The Rise of The Phoenix
by Aranae
Summary: Lilah is a mercenary. Vincent has begun to move on after defeating Omega. Both of their lives will completely change when she starts her new mission. Other FF VII characters also appear. Cloud, Tifa, and almost everyone! OC x Vincent. COMPLETE AND REVISED
1. A New Deal

**The Rise Of The Phoenix**

**DISCLAIMER: **I wish I owned Final Fantasy VII, especially Vincent Valentine, but I don't, Square-Enix does. I only own my OC's: Lilah Phoenix, Ives von Gorge, Murdoch and Dr. Gavin.

This story takes place a few months after the events of Dirge of Cerberus.

Enjoy!

**A New Deal**

Once again, she was walking through those dark tunnels. She knew the way by heart and didn't need a map to get through. She had walked that road a thousand times. The young woman had long, black, waved hair and blue eyes. She was slim, 5'5 tall and seemed to be in her mid twenties.

At the end of the road she found herself in front of an iron door, which seemed to be out of place next to the rocky walls. She used a cardkey to open it and entered in a quite crowded room. Immediately, a large blonde man who was playing cards with some other guys stood up and walked towards her. She didn't know his true name, but everyone called him Murdoch.

"Ives called me this morning. He said he had a job for me." She said. "Lilah… I wasn't expecting to see you again. Last time you said you were quitting." He said, as he stand in front of her.

"You know, some extra cash is always welcomed. I know only a few people in Edge and it has been hard for me to find a job… It seems to me that this is the only thing that I can do well. Anyway, do you know what is this all about?"

"I only know you'll be working all by yourself."

"Good… I hate sharing money with you."

He laughed and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ives is in the office… I think he is waiting for you."

She didn't like the job at all. Most of the missions consisted of criminal acts. She worked for Ives von Gorge, but she knew he wasn't the head of the organization. She needn't to know more, it would put her life in danger. Once someone told her that they used to work for Shinra, but even after the Jenova War they were still active. Anyway, the paid was good and she was one of the best mercenaries Ives had. Lilah had the skills needed.

She entered the office without knocking the door and the man behind the desk was quite surprised.

"Lilah. I was expecting you."

She sat in front of him and looked directly at his eyes. Ives was a brown-haired man and he was about forty.

"Murdoch told me you want me to work alone."

"Yes. This mission is… special."

"Special?"

"You see, I've been making some plans and… Oh, but I won't bother you with details. All you need to know is that I need a spy in the WRO."

"What! Are you crazy?" Lilah asked, concerned.

"They've been working with ex Shinras. I know it won't be hard for you to infiltrate and gain their trust. Thus, no one knows you in Edge. You're just perfect for the job. The only thing you have do is inform me about their activities."

"That's all?"

"That's all you need to know now. I'll let you know about any change in the plans. I know you are creative, you'll come out with a good way to get close to them. We'll force some situations for you to show them your moves."

"How about the money?"

"As usual."

"This is too dangerous. There's now way I'm doing this for just 5000 gil."

"I'll pay you weekly… 5000 gil per week." Lilah didn't say a thing. That was a lot of money! "So… what do you say?" He asked, crossing his hands over the desk.

"It's a deal." She said, quite decided.

"That's my girl!"

"But, you know… This is the last job I'll do for you. When it's finished, I'm out of this."

"You can do whatever you want after this. I don't care."

They shook hands and sealed the deal. Lilah was about to get out of the room when Ives stopped her.

"This is… An advance." He said and left some cash over the table. It was about 2000 gil. Lilah looked at him and then took the money. When she came out of the office she found herself in front of Murdoch.

"And… When do you start?" He asked.

"I'm already into the job." She answered, winked at him, and left the place.

* * *

Lilah decided to start with her new task as soon as possible. She came back to Edge and walked straight to the Seventh Heaven, place where drinks, coffee and snacks were sold, and also where the ex AVALANCHE members used to meet. Getting close to them was a good way to get to Reeve Tuesti and his World Regenesis Organization. The bar was also the place where Cloud Strife, one of the heroes of the Jenova War and friend of Tuesti ran a delivery service. In other words, it was the perfect place to contact them. 

She felt a little bit confused, because she had actually never seen them in person, but she entered the bar anyway. It was about 7pm and there were just a few customers drinking coffee at a table, and a large, man with dark skin sitting at the bar. He was talking with a nice young woman, who wore her black hair loose. She seemed to be attending the bar. Lilah sat at the bar, one stool away from the man.

"Wait a sec, Barret… we have a customer." The woman said. "Hi!, welcome to the Seventh Heaven…Do you want something to drink?"

"Oh… Hi, a cup of black coffee, please." Lilah said, trying to seem confiden.

"A cup of black coffee coming." She turned around, pushed a couple of buttons on the coffee machine and put it in front of Lilah. "There you go."

"Thanks." Lilah started drinking and realized that the man next to her had a mechanic hand. Maybe he was Barret Wallace, ex AVALANCHE member.

"Hey, Tiff, you were tellin' me somethin' bout Yuffie, right?"

The young woman, started to laugh.

"She said she was going shopping today." She said.

"And what's the funny part?"

"She was going shopping… with Vincent!"

"What?" Barret exclaimed, concerned.

"What you heard!" She assured, quite amussed.

"But… why?... Vincent is quite strange these days."

"I think he is trying to have a normal life, now that he got rid of his… 'Chaotic problem'. He even bought an apartment."

"He could stay here if he wanted to."

"Vincent's Vincent. I think Denzel and Marlene are too much for him."

Lilah couldn't believe it. She was very lucky. There were Barret Wallace and Tifa Lockhart, former members of AVALANCHE. And they were even talking about two of their friends: Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine.

"Hey, guys, you just have to see this!" Shouted a girl from the main door. She was about twenty, thin and wore her short black hair straight. She seemed very optimistic about something and made every soul in the place to turn their faces to see her, even Lilah.

"Yuffie!" Barret said .

"C'mon, Vince, let Tifa and Barret see your new look!", said Yuffie, but no one showed up. Lilah heard a deep male voice tell something to the girl. She could only understand the words 'kill' and 'brat'.

"Oh! Show yourself, Vince!" Said Yuffie in a bossy way and started to pull someone in.

"Stop it, Yuffie... I knew this wasn't a good idea..." He said and entered the bar. He was tall and pale. His hair was raven black and long. He wore it pulled in a low ponytail, though some bangs fell over his face and ears. He was wearing a brown long sleeved shirt and black trousers. His friends were quite surprised to see him dressing like that. It must have been the new look Yuffie was talking about.

"_So, this is the famous Vincent Valentine_." Lilah thought. The man had such presence that she couldn't take her eyes off him.

"Who are you and what did you do with our Vincent?" Barret said, joking.

"Wow, Vincent, you look great." Tifa said, surprised.

"Alright… can you all stop looking at me like that? Thank you." Vincent said. He didn't enjoy being the center of attention.

"And, guess what!... This is Vincent's old outfit. I bet he only had this one 'cause it stinks!" Yuffie said showing her friends a bag. "I'm going to put it in the trash!"

"Give me that." Vincent said in an intimidating way and took his stuff from Yuffie.

"But, Vince, you have a lot of new clothes now, you don't need that nasty cloak anymore.

"Stop calling me Vince… You are going to drive me mad." He said and sat between Barret and Lilah.

"Congratulations for your new look, Vincent… Wanna drink something? It's on the house." Tifa said, smiling.

"You know what I like." He said. Tifa took a bottle down from the bar, put a lot of ice in a glass and poured some green liquid on it. In that moment, the phone rang.

"It must be a delivery for Cloud. Care to answer, Yuffie? You know what to do." Tifa said.

"Sure!" Yuffie aswered and jumped into the house through a door in the back.

Vincent held the glass and smelled the liquid. He seemed to like it. Then, he left the glass on the bar again and took his cell phone out. He checked it. Everything seemed to be in order.

Lilah realized she was staring at him. She couldn't help it, he was very handsome. Vincent noticed she was looking at him and shot her a inexpressive look.

"Oh… Excuse me… what's that?" She asked, pointing at his glass, just to say something.

"This?" He said, picking the glass up.

"Yeah." She said and felt chills all over her body when she realized his eyes were bright red.

"Malboro Rum."

"…Never heard of it."

"It is not legal." He said and drank some.

Lilah didn't say anything else. Both of them remained drinking in silence. When she was finished, she paid the bill and left.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review!! 


	2. Getting Into Action

**Getting Into Action**

Lilah came back to the Seventh Heaven three days after her previous visit. She was staying in an inn and had been busy spending some of her money on new clothes and on the cleaning of her favorite weapons: two scimitars that she used ambidextrously. She wore them crossed at her back. It was very common to see people with weapons, such as guns and blades in the streets of Edge.

It was almost 11pm. This time, Yuffie was the barmaid and there were more customers than the other day. Lilah thought that getting closer to Yuffie was a good way to meet the others, mainly because the girls seemed very enthusiastic and friendly. Nevertheless, she had no time for that, because when she was about to talk with Yuffie, a group of masked strangers entered the bar shooting. Obviously, it was the 'help' Ives had promised her. It was time to get into action and show what she was made of. Lilah drew out her blades and attacked the newcomers. She didn't notice when Vincent, Yuffie and another man who carried a spear joined her in battle. It was quite easy, after they had injured some of the terrorist, they left quickly. Of course, the customers had run away and the bar was now a disaster. Just a couple of seconds after the attackers had left, Tifa entered the bar, holding hands with a young blond man with spiky hair. They were very surprised to see the condition of the place.

"What happened in here?" The blond man asked.

"The children!... Where are they?... Are they alright?" Tifa asked, concerned.

"Yeah, they're alright… We… don't know what happened. Some guys entered shooting like crazy and left just before you got here." Explained Yuffie, a little bit confused.

"Who in hell were they?" The man with the spear asked while lighting a cigarette.

"Who are you?" The blond man asked Lilah.

"Oh… I was here when the bar was attacked, and… I just decided to help. My name is Lilah Phoenix." She answered.

"I'm Cloud Strife." He said and they shook hands even when Cloud kept looking at her suspiciously.

"Hey, girl, you are good! I'm Yuffie, and that's Vince and Cid."

"I'm Tifa, and this is my bar… or what is left of it… Wait! You were here the other day, weren't you?" Tifa asked her when she remembered her face.

"Yes, I came a couple of days ago for a cup of coffee." She answered.

"Thanks for the help." Cloud said. "Have you seen the attackers before?"

"No, never." Lilah lied.

"We'll have to investigate, but now we have to fix this mess." Tifa said. Cloud and Cid helped her to pick up chairs and tables that were all over the place.

"I'll go up to check on the kids." Yuffie said and entered the house.

Lilah felt a little bit shaky, what was not normal in her. She sat at the bar to rest for a minute. Vincent approached, stretched over the bar and picked up a glass and the bottle with Malboro Rum from the other side.

"Are you OK?" He asked her.

"Yeah… I'm just a little bit nervous." She answered and smiled at him.

"Hmp..."

Lilah looked at him. It seemd that his new look hadn't lasted more that a day. He was now wearing a black outfit, a golden clawed gauntlet in his left hand and a dark red cloak which collar covered great part of his face.

"Do you want some?" He suddenly said. For being offering a drink he didn't sound too gentle.

"...Sure." Lilah said, still shaky, not only because of the attack but also because this man was making her feel intimidated.

He picked up another glass and poured some rum in them. Lilah picked up one of them and drank the liquid.

"Hey!... Don't…!" It was the last thing Lilah heard before passing out.


	3. Arrangements

**Arrangements**

To put together the pieces of a life that has been shattered for more than thirty years is a hard work. It takes a lot of time and friends to help out. But Vincent Valentine had made it and was starting a new life. It was hard to stop feeling guilty for the past and pity for himself. But that was just the first part of it. He had redeemed himself by destroying Omega, but he felt it was not enough. Now, that he was helping Reeve in the WRO and had his own place to live, things were settling down and he was willing to face his new reality.

Anyway, things are not always as you wanted them to be. He was just trying to be friendly with her, though he was never good at it. But to leave her unconscious… That was not was he meant. Lilah didn't end up in the floor just because he had excellent reflexes.

"You should stop drinking that crap." Tifa said, with that bossy tone she used when she was upset.

"...She didn't give me time to put ice on it." Vincent said, somehow, trying to apologize.

"I could use it to fly an airship." Cid said and laughed. Then he lighed a cigarrette.

Cloud left Lilah in the guest room and came back to the bar.

"She'll be fine." He said and sat on a table. "What a night!"

"Vincent! You, big meanie! The girl helped us fight the bad guys and you just knock her down with that stinky drink!" Yuffie said.

Vincent remained in silence. He just gave her a cold glare.

"Deepground is over… I don't know who would want to attack us." Tifa said and sat nex to Cloud.

"Maybe they were trying to rob us." Yuffie guessed.

"I don't think so. The bar was plenty of people and they didn't steal anything. They just wanted to destroy." Cid thought in loud voice.

"Cid's right." Cloud said. "But it's late now. I think I'll go to bed. See you tomorrow." He sat up and then entered the house.

"What are you guys doing now?" Yuffie asked . Everyone seemed pretty tired, but her.

"The bar still needs some repairs, so it is pointless to open again, and, just as Cloud said, it's quite late. I think I'm going to bed too." Tifa said. "Yuffie, would you mind staying the night and helping me with the bar tomorrow. Cloud has to make some deliveries and won't be able to help me."

"Sure!" Yuffie said enthusiastically.

"I'm outta here… Let me know if you get something of those wackos." Cid said and walked towards the door. Vincent followed him in silence.

"Hey, Vincent." Tifa said. He didn't say a word nor turned around, just stopped and listened. "I'll call you when she wakes up."

He kept on walking, came out of the place, and went straight to his apartment. It was just a few blocks away, so he decided to walk. It was located in a third floor. It just had a kitchen, a living room that served as dining room as well, a small bathroom, and two bedrooms. Even though it was quite small, it seemed big for him alone. It was scarcely furnished and was full of cardboard boxes with things that Yuffie had helped him to choose, but hadn't had time to arrange. He still felt as a stranger in the place. As soon as he arrived, he entered the bedroom and laid in bed. It had just a pillow and a couple of blankets.

It was about midnight and he was not sleepy at all. He couldn't stop thinking about that smile and those beautiful blue eyes… but he didn't allow himself to feel anything else. He had fallen in love one and he ended up and with a bullet in his chest. His whole life had change after that. Now, that thirty years had past, and he was not willing to go through that again. Vincent just tried to get Lilah's eyes away from his thoughts and fell asleep.


	4. A Family Home

**A Family Home**

It was almost 9am when, because of the sunlight that entered through the window, Lilah finally woke up. She felt like hell. Her stomach ached and her head seemed to be spinning. The first thing she saw was the face of a brown haired girl, who appeared to be about eight years old. The girl was sitting next to her bed.

"…Where… where am I?" Lilah asked.

"Tifa!… She's awake!" The girl shouted towards the door.

Lilah sat in the bed and saw Yuffie, and Tifa enter the room. They were still wearing their pajamas.

"Thank you, sweetie. Now, go to the kitchen to have some breakfast." Tifa said to the girl. The little one smiled at Lilah and ran out of the bedroom. "Hi! How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." She answered. "What happened?

"You drank Malboro Rum without ice. It is very toxic, we were worried sick." Tifa explained.

"Courtesy of our Vincent Valentine." Yuffie said.

"I remember some guys attacked the bar, and then… I don't remember very well what happened next." Lilah said. She was not lying. She only remembered to be talking with Vincent, and then everything went black.

"Can you stand?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah… I think I can." Lilah said, and stood up. She was still a little dizzy and almost fell over Tifa.

"Hey! Take it easy!" Tifa exclaimed getting a hold of Lilah's arm.

"Let's go to the kitchen. I just made hotcakes!" Yuffie said running out of the room.

"No… I… I should be going now. Sorry I bothered you all so much." Lilah said to Tifa.

"Oh, don't be silly and let's have some breakfast, Yuffie is a great cook." Tifa said before leading Lilah into the kitchen. Lilah was quite surprised because of Tifa's friendly attitude.

The kitchen was big. There were many counters and cabinets. In the middle of the room there was a round table with about seven chairs. Sitting there were Barret, Cloud, the girl who Lilah had just met, and a brown haired boy who was a little bit older than the girl. Yuffie was serving breakfast.

"You already met Barret, Cloud and Yuffie." Tifa said, as they entered. "She is Marlene, and he is Denzel, they live here with us too."

"Hi… I'm Lilah."

"Hi!" Marlene and Denzel said at the same time.

"Sit down. The hotcakes are delicious!" Yuffie said, setting another plate on the table.

"… Thanks." She said and sat down. She was not used to this kind of friendly environment.

"I'm glad you're fine now." Barret said.

"So, are you from around here? I had never seen you before." Cloud asked.

"No… I used to live near Icicle Inn, in the North continent. But I haven't been there for years. I've been traveling a lot." She answered.

"So you work here in Edge now?" Tifa asked.

"Well, not yet. I got here last week and I still haven't found a job."

"Really? I've been looking for someone to help me at the bar. Yuffie can't be here all the time. Are you interested?" Tifa asked Lilah, very enthusiastic.

"Yeah! And if the bad guys ever come back, you'll be here to help us kick their butts again!" Yuffie exclaimed, kicking and punching the air.

It was the moment Lilah had been waiting for.

"Sure!" She answered. "It sounds great!"

After breakfast was over, Lilah felt a lot better and decided to go back to the inn to change her clothes and take a shower. She would start working at the Seventh Heaven that very evening.

* * *

**A/N: Leave some reviews, pleeeeeease!!**


	5. Getting Closer

**Getting Closer**

A whole day had past and Vincent hadn't heard anything from Tifa. He supposed everything was alright, but still was uneasy. He picked up his cell phone and searched for Tifa's number, but he didn't dial. Instead, he put on his red cloak and came out of the apartment. That evening he was wearing black trousers and a gray shirt Yuffie had chosen for him. She was an annoying girl, but she had good taste in clothes. He walked straight to the Seventh Heaven and was very surprised to see that the place was closed. The moment he was going to knock the door, Yuffie came out from the place.

"Hi!... And, bye!" She said and ran toward the street, leaving the bar's door opened for him. "My father is upset! Cid's going to take me to Wutai in the airship… See ya!" She said and turned around the corner.

Vincent stood in the door of the bar quite shocked for a couple of seconds. Then he entered and closed the door behind him. The place was almost unfurnished and it smelled like fresh paint. He laid against the bar staring at the new appearance of the place.

"The usual, right, Mr. Valentine?" Someone said behind him.

He turned to see Lilah on the other side of the bar with the Malboro Rum bottle next to her. He didn't know what to say and she started to laugh along with Tifa, who was just entering the place from the house.

"I see you are fully recovered." He finally said.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." She said, still laughing.

"I know… I forgot to call you… sorry." Tifa said covering her face with her hands.

"But… what are you doing still here?" Vincent asked Lilah.

"Oh! I thought you'd be happy to see that I'm fine." She said pretending to be hurt by his words.

"No… I just… I wasn't expecting to see you here again." He explained.

"Lilah works here with me now." Tifa explained, approaching to the bar.

Vincent nodded and continued looking the place.

"We had to clean the place and I decided to paint too, what you think?" Tifa asked.

"It's good." He said.

"Just good? I don't know why, but I thought you'd be more enthusiastic. Anyway… Are you staying? Barret said he was bringing some pizza." Tifa said.

"Well, I'm already here. I guess I'm staying. What happened to Yuffie?" He said.

"She stayed here for a few days without telling her father. He heard about the attack to the bar and was worried." Tifa explained.

The girls were wearing overalls to protect their clothes from the painting. Tifa took hers off and put it over the bar.

"I'm going to wash my hands." She said. "I'll wait for you two in the kitchen." She then entered the house.

"I'm sorry about what happened last night." Vincent said, while Lilah was sitting next to him.

"Don't worry, it was my fault. I was nervous because of the attack and everything, and I didn't realize that you had to put ice in the drink. I was careless." She said and smiled at him. He just looked at her. "How about we start all over again? Hi, I'm Lilah Phoenix, nice to meet you, Vincent." She said holding out her right hand.

He smiled lightly behind the collar of his cloak. They were shaking hands when Barret entered the bar carrying two pizza boxes.

"Making peace?" He asked. "I forgot whether Spiky hated mushrooms or anchovies, so I bought two… Let's go to the kitchen… I'm starving."

The three of them left the bar and walked toward the kitchen.


	6. Favors

**Favors**

Three weeks had past since Lilah started to work at the Seventh Heaven. Her mission was going great and everyone trusted her. Besides, she made plenty of money thanks to Ives' weekly payments. But something that was not planned happened: she had started to consider Tifa, Cloud, and the others as the first friends she'd ever had, and they considered her their friend as well. She had even thought once or twice about leaving everything behind for this new lifestyle. To be working in the bar and having fun in this new friendly environment was already part of her life, and it was changing her. As she had never had the opportunity of being herself before, she hadn't realize how kind and friendly she could be, and how she could enjoy being around other people. All she had ever done in her life before meeting her new friends was following orders to survive. She actually never had a real life.

That afternoon, Lilah decided to take her scimitars out to be cleaned. She came out of the inn and started looking for a specialist, the same she had seen the previous time, but the place was closed. She was walking down the street, already on her way back to the inn, when she saw a familiar face. It was Vincent, who was coming out of a store and was walking towards an apartment building. He was wearing the red cloak Yuffie hated so much. Since he was walking toward her, she decided to wait for him.

"Never expected to see you in a place like this." She said when he stopped in front of her.

"I live here." He said, pointing at the building.

"Really?"

"Yes, I do."

"You don't look like the kind of guy who lives in an apartment."

"I guess I'm full of surprises… What are you doing here? I assume you weren't looking for me."

"I was looking for a specialist to clean my blades, but I had no luck."

"Why don't you do it yourself? It's very easy."

"I don't like to. I'm usually very silly about these things and I don't wanna lose a finger or something." She said smiling at him.

"Cloud owns some sword, I am sure he can help you."

"He's out of town. But since you say it is quite easy, why don't YOU help me?" She said, joking, but Vincent took her seriously, as he always did.

"I think I could."

"Hey! I didn't mean…"

"Follow me." He practically ordered her, and walked towards the building.

Lilah followed him, and both walked up the stairs up to the third floor. He silently opened the door, and both of them entered the apartment. The place was still full of cardboard boxes.

"So this is Vincent Valentine's home." She said, inspecting the place.

He dropped his keys over a small table.

"It's just the place where I live."

"Why?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?"

"Sorry"

"It's been years since I've call a place home."

"I know what you mean."

Vincent looked at her and stopped for a couple of seconds. Then, he looked for something in one of the boxes. He took a small iron box from it.

"Take a seat." He said, but there were no chairs or couches in the room. When Lilah saw he was sitting on the floor, she realized what he meant, and sat next to him. Then she took her blades off. Vincent opened the box and took a small bottle, a piece of iron, and a piece of cloth out of it.

"Well, it's been years since I've done this. Let's see what I can do." He said and started to sharpen the blade with the piece of iron. Lilah observed everything he did very carefully.

"I bet you're doing this only to make up for what happened when we met. You still feel guilty, don't you?"

"Maybe." He answered. Then, he soaked the piece of cloth with a liquid from the little bottle. "This is to polish the surface."

"I think I can handle that. Let me try." She said, and when she was going to take the blade, she accidentally pushed it a little bit towards him. Vincent dropped it to the floor. His hand started to bleed.

"Oh… you see! I'm so stupid with these things, sorry!" She said nervously, and dropped the other blade too.

"It doesn't matter." He said and cleaned his hand with his cloak.

"No, wait! You need to clean the wound or you may catch an infection… Where is the bathroom?"

"…In the corridor, to the left." He said, quite surprised for her attitude.

Lilah ran towards the bathroom taking Vincent's hand. She hastily turned on the cold water and washed his hand. The bathroom was pretty small, so they had to stand very close to each other.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." She said.

"I said it doesn't matter."

"I'm so sorry, Vincent… I…"

"…Stop saying you're sorry, please." He interrupted her, and closed his eyes.

"It's just that, you're being such a nice guy with me, and I hurt you. I'm so stupid." She said, nervously.

"It was an accident."

She turned around and looked at him, still holding his hand.

"It seems that you're trying to make me feel better." She said, chuckling. Everyone knew Vincent was not a very friendly man.

"Or I just may think we're even now."

"Oh… you're right. We're even now." She said and smiled.

They looked each other for a couple of seconds. Her wide blue eyes were fixed on his red orbes. He felt something he hadn't felt for so many years: A deep feeling of happiness.

"Vincent…"

"I…"

"Your hand is bleeding again."

"Oh… you're right."

She washed his hand again and let it go.

"You have to put some bandage on." She said, and dried her hands with the towel that was next to her.

"I don't have an emergency kit."

"I think this would do fine." Lilah took a white handkerchief from her pocket and put it around Vincent's hand.

"Thank you." He whispered. it had been so many years since he had felt that way. There was something in Lilah that was breaking through all his barriers.

"I think I can go on with my blades now."

"…Sure."

"Would you let me through?" She was trapped between Vincent and the washbowl.

"…Right." He stepped aside and she walked towards the living room. When he got there, she was already sitting in the floor again, sharpening the other sword.

"So… Vincent, when did you move here?"

"About a month ago." He answered and laid against the wall, next to her.

"Oh… by the looks of the place, I can say you're a busy man."

"Kind of."

"I could help you set your things up, if you want me to. Maybe that way you'll end up turning this place into your home. I've never actually arranged a place before, but I can give it a try." She said and looked up at him.

"Why?" He said.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

"I don't know. Maybe I just want to help you."

"But we wouldn't be even anymore. I don't like owing favors."

"You're right. You'll have to wait for me to cut your whole arm, then."

Vincent almost smiled. By then, she had already finished polishing her weapons.

"I guess I'll be going now… Thanks for the help." She said, stood up and put her swords at her back again. "See ya". She walked towards the door.

"Good bye."

"Don't say that… It's not like we're not gonna meet again."

"… See you later, then."

She smiled again and left.


	7. Confessions

**Confessions**

Despite of how bad everything started between them, Lilah and Vincent began to spend some time together. It was quite hard for him to let anyone in, but Lilah was patient, and they eventually became friends. She also thought a couple of times that maybe they would become more than just friends. She liked Vincent, they got along very well, and she could feel a strong chemistry between them, but she also felt that it would be impossible. Not only because her work, but because other things about her life, things about her past. He felt the same way, but neither of them were good at sharing their feelings.

The bar was usually closed on Sundays, so Tifa invited Lilah home to watch a movie with Yuffie, and Cloud. While they were making popcorn, the phone rang.

"Cloud, it must be a delivery. You should answer." Tifa said.

He left the room and came back five minutes later while the girls were already setting some cushions in front of the TV in the living room.

"We are ready." Yuffie said.

"It was Reeve." Cloud explained. "He wanted to confirm the date and location of the party. It'll be in three days, at the headquarters. They are going to have the main hall decorated."

"A party!?" Yuffie exclaimed, very excited.

"Well, it will actually be a ball. So, if you wanna go, you must dress very elegant and ready for dancing" Tifa said.

"It is to celebrate the WRO anniversary, and to commemorate the times of peace we've had since Deepground was defeated." Cloud continued.

"Whoa!! It's going to be great!" Yuffie said, jumping from her seat. "I will finally get to wear my dressy kimono!"

"Of course, you're invited too, Lilah. Will you come?" Tifa asked.

"Sure." She answered. "I guess I can buy an appropriate dress." It was the perfect chance to meet Reeve Tuesti and get important information from the WRO headquarters.

Just in that moment, Marlene and Denzel arrived.

"Are you going to watch a movie?" Marlene asked.

"Yes." Cloud said.

"Can we watch it too?" Denzel asked.

"You will get bored, it is a movie for grown ups." Tifa said.

"Oh, pleeeeease!" The children insisted.

"Ok, you can stay and watch the movie, but no complaints about being bored." Tifa said while getting some cushions for the kids.

Marlene and Denzel watched the first fifteen minutes of the movie and fell asleep. They were all very quiet, until Marlene woke up, very scared, and almost crying.

"What's up, sweetie?" Tifa asked her.

"Tifa… I dreamt about her again… It was so real." Marlene said then hugged Tifa.

"Oh, honey, I dream about her sometimes, too. There's no need to be scared. She loved you very much." Tifa said, trying to make the little girl feel better.

"We all miss her, Marlene." Yuffie said.

Cloud looked down. Lilah was pretty confused.

"I'm sure that Aeris is watching us, wherever she is now." Tifa said.

"Aeris? Did you say Aeris?" Lilah asked, getting pale.

"Yes… she was a … a very good friend of ours." Cloud said. He looked very sad.

"Aeris Gainsborough?" Lilah asked, sitting up.

"Did you meet her?" Yuffie asked Lilah, turning to her.

"You mean, Aeris Gainsborough? Dr. Gast and Ifalna's daughter?" Lilah asked once more. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah… those were her parents' names." Cloud said, pretty confused.

"I can't believe it!" Lilah said, and ran out of the house. She felt her past was haunting her again.

"Yuffie. Stay with the kids." Tifa said, and, alongside with Cloud, ran after Lilah. She was sitting in the stairway, outside the bar, with her head over her knees.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked, sitting next to her.

"Lilah, did you meet Aeris?" Cloud asked, sitting on his heels, in front of her.

"Yes, I met her!" Lilah answered, and stayed silent for a moment. Then she began to tell them her story. "It was so long ago, in Dr. Gast's laboratory, in Icicle. She was such a beautiful little girl. I was in my middle twenties when Dr. Gast found me near the underwater reactor of Junon. I was drowned.

"Oh!" Exclaimed Tifa. Cloud just remained looking at her.

"He took my body to Icicle, and… based on Dr. Hojo and Dr. Crescent researches, he brought me back to life. He put the Phoenix gene in me. My body had been exposed to mako in the reactor, so I'm able to hold the creature in me. Dr. Gast never gave me a name, until the day his little girl entered the lab. She asked who I was. I remember quite well. He didn't know what to say, and asked her to give me a name. And then she called me Lilah. Lilah Phoenix, said the doctor… And that has been my name ever since. She was… the cetra that Sephiroth killed, right?

"Yes." Cloud said, looking down again.

"Lilah, what about your life before that?" Tifa asked.

"I don't know… And I don't care. It happened so long ago."

"Does anyone else know about this?" Cloud asked her.

"No!... and, I beg you, don't tell anyone! And don't ask me about this anymore."

"You should talk about this with Vincent." Cloud said.

"No! I don't want Vincent to know about this. You must be thinking that I'm some kind of monster, and I don't want him to think that!"

"You should know that…" Tifa began, but Lilah interrupted her.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." She said, and stood up. "Just, don't tell anyone."

"One more question, Lilah." Tifa said.

Lilah was leaving, but she stopped to hear Tifa.

"When did all this happen?" She asked.

"More than twenty years ago." She answered and left.

Lilah had walked a couple of blocks when she realized that, for the first time in many years, she was crying.


	8. Celebration

**Celebration**

The Seventh Heaven was open and Tifa was in the street, outside the place. She seemed to be waiting for someone.

"Sorry for being late!" Yuffie said. Tifa could tell she had been running. "Did she come today?"

"No. It's been almost two days since the last time I saw her."

"Will you tell me what happened the other afternoon?"Yuffie said, jumping and begging.

"Of course not… maybe she'll tell you someday."

"Oh… Anyway, you're going to get her back, right?"

"Yes. I'll invite her to go shopping."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"I'd like that, but I need you to stay here. Marlene and Denzel are about to get home from school."

"Alright!... I'll take care of everything, just make sure to bring Lilah back. Good luck!" Yuffie shouted while Tifa was already walking down the street.

Tifa had heard Lilah talking a couple of times about the place where she was staying, so she hoped to find her there. She arrived at the inn and asked if Lilah was still there. In fact, she was still living there, but she was not there at the moment. Tifa felt a little disappointed, but she needed a dress for the party anyway, and decided to go shopping by herself. Just then, she heard someone call her name. It was Lilah, who had just arrived.

"Tifa… what are you doing here?" Lilah said looking quite confused.

"I was looking for you. I haven't seen you since the other day… Are you alright?"

"I don't blame you if you are firing me. After what happened…"

"Don't be silly! I'm not here to fire you! We're friends, right?"

"… Friends"

"Besides, everyone's been asking about you… well… Vincent did."

Lilah blushed a little.

"Anyway, you are going shopping with me now!" Tifa said grabbing a hold of Lilah's arm. "I know you need a dress for the party too."

They're first stop was the new Edge Shopping Arcade. Tifa immediately fell in love with a long, sleeveless, dark green dress that fit her perfectly, but Lilah was hard to convince. The whole situation was new for her. She tried everything Tifa chose for her, until she saw a beautiful silver and black corset like top, and a long, black, silk and lace skirt. They then bought matching shoes and were ready for the party.

Of course, Lilah hadn't forgotten about her objective. The day of the party, in the evening, she went to Ives' office. He gave her a small device that was to be installed in a discrete place in headquarters. He told her that it was to intercept digital information.

"I'm very pleased with your work so far, Lilah." He said. "Come back next week and I'll tell you about your new objectives. Now, just keep it up."

"New objectives?" She asked.

"Yes, if everything goes the way it is now, we'll take the plan to the next level."

"And what is this next level all about?"

"Enough of your questions, Lilah. Your job is to follow orders."

She stayed silent, and held herself from throwing Ives' money to his face and quitting. She left and promised herself that this was the last thing she'll ever do for Ives. After installing the device, she would quit definitely.

Cloud, and Tifa arrived together at the party on his motorcycle. Yuffie went in her flying car, and Cid, Barret, Nanaki, and Lilah arrived in the airship. Lilah hadn't met Nanaki before, but she was amazed by that, despite of looking like a beast, he behaved like a true gentleman. Cid, Barret, and Cloud were looking very elegant, though Cid was not wearing a tie. Tifa wore her hair loose, as always, and Yuffie looked beautiful in her dressy red kimono. Lilah arranged her hair in a braid that crossed her head from one side to the other, and the rest of her hair in a low ponytail over her right shoulder.

First, Reeve Tuesti, commissioner of the WRO gave a speech, and then the party began. There were two main areas in the hall: the one arranged as dance floor, where a band was playing waltzes, and the cocktail area.

The group set some food on a table and gathered around to eat. In that moment, a tall, red haired man, followed by another man, who was bald and wore sunglasses, even when it was after 9PM, approached them.

"Good evening." Said the red haired man. "Can we join the celebration?"

"Of course you can, Reno, you would even if we told you not to." Cid said, and lighted.

The man, whose name was Rude, fixed his tie and sat next to Tifa.

"I don't think I know who this beautiful lady is." Reno said looking at Lilah. She just smiled at him. "Reno, at your service, miss." He took her hand, and was going to kiss it when was interrupted by Yuffie, who jumped out of her seat and run towards the main door. Reno sat next to Lilah, and started eating.

"Don't think he is always like this." Tifa told Lilah. "He's usually a disaster."

Lilah smiled and looked at Reno.

"Tifa!... give me some credit in front of the girl!" Reno said, with his mouth full of roasted chicken.

"You see?" Tifa said. Both of them, Tifa and Lilah laughed.

Meanwhile, Yuffie hastily crossed the hall. She stopped next to the main door and found herself in front of Vincent.

"What are you doing out here?" Yuffie said, with a hand on her hip.

"I was leaving."

"I bet you just got here."

"…"

"C'mon, Vince, food's great! Let's hurry before Reno and Rude eat everything. Besides, you didn't dress so cool just to stand by the door, listen to Reeve's speech, and leave, right?"

Vincent was wearing a black suit, a gray, long sleeved shirt, a black coat, and gloves and tie that matched his red bandana.

"…"

"Ohhh! Vincent Valentine! You're coming with me!" Yuffie started pushing him inside, but, as he was taller and stronger, she couldn't move him. It was the fact that everyone around them started to look that made Vincent decide to get in for once and for all.

They were walking towards the table, when Reno asked Lilah to dance with him.

"Sorry, I don't feel like dancing right now." She said.

"Come on, just one dance." Reno insisted.

"I can't dance."

"I bet you're a great dancer."

"I'm not!"

In that moment, Yuffie and Vincent arrived.

"Look who decided to show up!" Yuffie said, holding Vincent's arm.

"Vincent… I thought you weren't coming." Cloud said, surprised to see Vincent in a place that crowded.

Barret sat up and brought another chair, and Vincent took his coat off.

"Come on, let's dance." Reno said to Lilah again.

"Oh… I can't dance with you, Reno 'cause… because I promised Vincent I'd dance with him first!" Lilah lied, and stood up.

"What?" Vincent said, and realized Lilah was there too.

Lilah took his hand, and led him to the dance floor.

"Please, follow me, or I'll have Reno asking me for a dance the whole night." She whispered to his ear.

None of them knew pretty much how to dance a waltz, but they did quite well.

"I didn't know you were coming." She said, just to break the ice. Vincent was not very good starting conversations. "You look great."

"Thank you. You look great too."

"Thanks, Vincent."

He started to feel that strange feeling of happiness again. He didn't want to fall in love, because last time it had been so painful, but Lilah, just being herself, was bringing him down.

"She has to tell him!" Tifa said to Cloud. "Everything would be so different!"

"Don't push her. I think she's going to tell him anyway." He said.

"Oh, they shouldn't waste time! They look so great together… What do you think?"

"… They look fine."

"Come on, Cloud, let's dance!" She sat up and almost dragged Cloud to the dance floor. He wasn't very willing to dance, but he loved seeing Tifa happy.

Suddenly, Barret approached Lilah.

"I don't want to interrupt you, guys, but, Lilah, I want to introduce you to someone." He said.

"Sure." She said and left with Barret. She turned around and smiled at Vincent.

He stood alone in the middle of the dance floor for a couple of seconds looking Lilah walk away. He had never felt that way before, not even when he was in love with Lucrecia. When he used to remember his lost love, he used to feel a deep pain, but Lilah made him feel happy. He walked towards the table, and Yuffie gave him some dessert.

"So, Valentine… You and this girl, Lilah… Are dating? She's hot!" Reno said, crossing his arms.

"… I won't answer to that question." Vincent said inexpressively.

"Just… curiosity." Reno said, leaning towards Vincent.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Yuffie said.

"More than just one damn cat is going to end up dead if you keep upsetting Vince!" Cid said.

"And just to satisfy your curiosity, Reno, as far as we know, Vincent and Lilah are just friends." Yuffie said.

Vincent didn't say a word. He stood up and walked towards the rum punch table.

Barret led Lilah through a corridor and then to an office. He opened the door. Inside was a man talking on the phone. He hung and told Barret to enter.

"Reeve… I brought the girl you wanted to meet. This is our friend, Lilah Phoenix." Barret said.

"Reeve Tuesti… pleased to meet you, Lilah." He said while they were shaking hands.

"Pleased to meet you too, Mr. Tuesti. I've heard a lot about you and your organization."

"Just call me Reeve."

Reeve sat at his desk, and Lilah, along with Barret sat in front of him.

"Cloud told me you are a good fighter."

"Well, I know some martial arts, and I was trained in the use of swords."

"I know both of you were having fun at the party, that's why I won't take much of your time… Lilah, I could use your help in the organization."

Lilah was very surprised, and didn't know what to say.

"You don't have to answer right away!" Barret told her.

"I want you to think about it." said Reeve. "Barret told me you and Vincent are friends. He could tell you what we do here."

She didn't answer.

"At least say you'll think about it." Reeve said.

"Ok… I'll think about it." She finally answered.

"Perfect!!" Barret said. "Can we return to the party now?"

"Sure you can." Reeve answered. "I'll join you in a few minutes."

Lilah and Barret left the office and walked back to the party.

"Barret… can you tell me where the ladies rooms are?" Lilah asked.

"In the other corridor, to the left. I'll see you at the table."

"Yeah, I'll be there right away."

It was the moment she had been waiting for. Everyone was having fun at the party and she had plenty of time to install the device. It was small and light, so she brought it tied with velcro around her left leg. She entered the bathroom and stood over a WC, and was willing to open an air conditioner duct when she got the feeling she was doing something wrong. Lilah looked at the device, and crashed it into the floor. She felt relieved, and free from Ives. Reeve's offer had made her decide. This was the beginning of her new life.

* * *

**A/N: Hey! I know there are people reading this fic! Come on, don't be shy and leave some reviews!**


	9. In Good Company

**In Good Company**

Lilah felt so happy that she even accepted the dance with Reno. Tifa and Cloud left early, and Barret, Cid and Yuffie were drinking, when Vincent came out to the balcony that faced a river. He had always felt uncomfortable around so many people and was already thinking about leaving.

"There you are!" Lilah said. She had followed him from the party, and seemed quite tired, because she had been dancing with Reno for about an hour. "Don't tell me you're leaving so soon."

"Actually, I was thinking about leaving."

"Oh, don't leave, please! You being here make my night almost perfect."

Vincent tried not to look at her.

"Why?" He asked.

"Hey! You know I like hanging around with you." She said, walking towards him and sitting on the edge of the balcony.

He stayed in silence. How could anyone enjoy being around him? He had always considered himself a freak, almost a monster. He turned his face towards her just to meet with Lilah's smile again.

"Do you really wanna leave?" She asked him.

"I don't know. I don't like crowds."

"Come, on. Let's get your coat." She said as she stood up again.

"What?" Vincent asked, quite confused.

"Let's get your coat... Let's get out of here." Lilah took his hand, and dragged him after her while running towards the building.

Vincent and Lilah entered the hall again and walked towards the table, where they found Barret and Yuffie making a drinking contest. Nanaki was sleeping under the table, and Cid was smoking in a corner. They approach them and Vincent took his coat.

"…Are you leaving?" Yuffie asked. She was quite drunk.

"Yes." Vincent said.

"You're too young for being such a heavy drinker, girl." Lilah said as she took Yuffie's drink. "See ya, guys!"

"Hey, wait! Are you two leaving together?" Yuffie asked, and gave them a naughty smile.

"Vincent, wait for me outside, I have an idea." Lilah whispered, and Vincent left the place. He waited for her outside the building for a few minutes.

"Guess what!" She said. He turned around to see her coming. "I have the keys to Yuffie's flying car."

He just looked at her suspiciously.

"What? I was not letting her drive as drunk as she is, she could have an accident. She should consider it a favor."

They approached the yellow flying car and Lilah tried to figure out how to turn it on.

"Let me handle that." Vincent said when he noticed she had no idea how to drive it. He sat in the car and turned it on immediately. Lilah sat behind him, although her skirt made things quite difficult.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"Let's take the car to Tifa's and we'll take a walk from there."

Lilah held on to Vincent, wrapping her arms around his waist while they took off.

She felt so good being that close to Vincent that couldn't help to hold on to him as tight as she could, pressing her face against his back.

"Are you afraid of heights?" He asked.

"Not if you're around." She answered.

"What?" He said, pretending he couldn't hear her.

"Nothing... I'm not afraid of heights."

The trip back to Edge was quite fast. Vincent parked the vehicle next to Cloud's bike, and both of them got off.

"Yuffie's got another set of keys. She'll pick up her car in the morning." She explained.

"It's late, what are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know." She said and held his arm. "Let's take a walk."

They walked in silence for about five minutes. That was when Lilah held Vincent's hand.

"Lilah… I…" He said, and stopped walking.

"Please… be quiet, Vincent. Let me enjoy my night."

"Your night?"

"Tonight's my night, I feel like myself for the very first time in my life."

"I think you were drinking that Malboro Rum again."

"No, I didn't!" She said, and laughed.

Vincent felt strange again, looking at those beautiful blue eyes. Though he knew he shouldn't be feeling that way, he couldn't help it. He wouldn't dare try to take that smile from her lips.

"Just… Enjoy the moment." She said and hugged him. Vincent hesitated a few seconds, closed his eyes, and held her in his arms too.

"My feet hurt. Let's sit down over there." She said and led him to a small park.

Vincent was going to sit on a bench, but Lilah insisted on sitting on the grass.

"Vincent… you have no idea how free I feel tonight."

"Why did you bring me here? Why me?"

"You, silly… I told you, I like being with you."

He looked down and laid on the grass.

"Have I told you you're the most handsome man I've ever met?" She asked him, and laid beside him.

"Me?" he asked, surprised, and sat again.

"It's true." She said and sat in front of him. He looked directly into her eyes. "I can't read your mind, Vincent. If you want to tell me something, you'll have to say it."

She was right. He did want to tell her something. He wanted to tell her that this was not easy for him, that it has been more than thirty years that he had been in a situation like this, and that he really wanted to try, but he felt vulnerable only thinking about saying the words. She knew he wasn't going to tell her, and gently touched his face with the tip of her fingers. He closed his eyes and felt her lips on his cheek, then next to his mouth and finally on his lips. He didn't react immediately. She kept her face close to his, so close he could feel her breath. Vincent suddenly forgot about all that was holding him back and kissed her deeply. She answered to this with a soft sigh, kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They stayed in the park for about an hour. None of them wanted to end the moment, but it was getting cold, and both of them were very tired.

"Reeve asked me to join the WRO." She said while he was walking her to the inn.

"Did you accept his offer?"

"Not yet, but I think I will."

"You'll be of great help, you see, we still have so many things to do here in Edge to get things going normally."

"I didn't think you worried that much."

"There are many things you don't know about me, Lilah."

"And that I'm just dying to know." She said, hugged him and kissed him again.

"So… This is it." He said. They had already arrived at the inn.

"Yeah… Thanks for walking me here."

Vincent was already willing to leave when Lilah stopped him.

"Vincent… You don't have to leave if you don't want to."

He turned around and looked at her.

"I'm…sort of outside myself now and I'm not sure if I will be able to stop later. Is this really what you want?"

She didn't answer; she just held his hand and, running, led him to her room.

They didn't mind in turning the lights on. As soon as they entered the room, Lilah kissed him once more, and made him sat in the bed. Then she sat on his lap, and while running her fingers through his hair, she took his bandana off. Vincent kissed her lips, then her neck, and pulled the cords that fastened her top. Lilah's dream night was just starting.


	10. Feelings

**Feelings**

When Lilah woke up, it was almost noon, and an arm held her strongly around her waist. The first thing she saw was Vincent's face. He was still asleep. She moved a couple of bangs away from his face and kissed his lips, but he didn't wake up. Lilah got up, and decided to take a shower. Last night had been wonderful, but it was over now. It was time to get back to reality.

Vincent woke up, and found himself alone in the bed. He looked around and saw his clothes spread all around the place, and couldn't help to smile lightly. He got up, collected his belongings, and got dressed. He was sitting in the bed, putting his shoes on when Lilah came out of the bathroom. She was wearing only a towel.

"Good morning, sleepy head." She said.

"Good morning."

She sat down in the bed and started to dry her hair with another towel.

"I think I should be going now." He said.

"Yeah, I think you should."

Then, there was an awkward silence.

"Lilah… I."

"You don't need to say it, Vincent. I know, we had a great time last night, and I think, well, we're both adults, right? There's nothing to explain."

"… Right." He said, although that wasn't what he wanted to say, and felt a little disappointed. He took his coat and left.

Lilah dropped the towel she was holding and started to cry. Her dream night was over, there was no use in asking Vincent to stay. How long could they keep a relationship? She was doomed to see everyone age and die. These new feelings she had been developing for him were complicating everything, and the best choice was to be just friends. She knew it was going to be hard, but she saw no other option.

Meanwhile, Vincent was still feeling a little confused. He walked some blocks thinking about Lilah and what had just happened, but couldn't find an explanation to her behavior. Without noticing, he found himself in front of Tifa's Seventh Heaven. It was almost 1PM, and Tifa was opening the bar.

"Vincent! Wow! You look like you just slept in that coffin again, what happened?" Tifa said .

"…I need a coffee."

"Come in."

Both entered, Tifa made Vincent a coffee and he sat at the bar.

"There you go!"

"Thanks, Tifa."

"So… what happened?"

"What makes you think something happened?"

"Well, it's been ages since the last time I saw you brooding like this."

Vincent sighed and drank some coffee.

"It's about Lilah, right?

"…"

"She likes you, I've noticed. And I know you like her too."

"I thought she did. I guess I was wrong."

"No! I know she does!"

"I don't think so."

"She does! All you have to do is to be honest with her."

"I am honest with her."

"Completely honest?"

"… There are some things I haven't told her, but I've never lied to her. Besides, Tifa, how much would it last? This is worthless."

"I'm sure there are a lot of things she needs to tell you. Everything would be different if you were honest with each other."

In that moment, someone opened the door of the bar.

"Hi, Tifa, sorry for being… late." It was Lilah. She seemed quite stunned when she realized Vincent was there. He didn't turned around, and drank the rest of his coffee.

"Hi, Lilah. I guess Yuffie didn't give you my message last night. I asked her to tell you that you didn't have to come until 7PM." Tifa said.

"Last night Yuffie was drunk." Lilah said , recovering from the surprise. Then, she left her bag behind the bar. "Hey, Vincent!" He just looked at her.

"Well, since you are already here… I have some business to attend to, you can stay here." Tifa said before quickly entered the house. Lilah started to arrange the chairs, and then cleaned the tables.

"Are you done with that coffee?" She asked.

"... Yes."

Lilah picked up Vincent's cup and washed it. He just looked every move she made. She was starting to feel uncomfortable about that.

"Vincent…" She turned around and leaned over the bar, towards him, "Last night I was carried away, I'm sorry… I like you very much, I must admit, but… I don't know, I can't…"

"I am not asking any explanation." He interrupted her.

"… Right, I just felt like I had to tell you this."

"You told me this morning, there's no need to explain anything."

"Yeah, you're right… sorry. But, we're still friends, aren't we?"

"…Sure." He said, not very enthusiastic.

Just then, Yuffie entered the place.

"Ohhhh!!!!! My head!!!" She shouted. "What's my ride doing out here?… I thought it had been stolen!"

"You don't remember? You lent it to me last night!" , Lilah said, amused.

"Ohhh! …right!" Yuffie plunge herself into a chair. She was still wearing her red kimono, but now it looked dirty and messy.

Vincent stood up, left some gil over the bar, for the coffee, and left without saying goodbye.

"What's up with him?" Yuffie asked , now sitting at the bar.

"I don't know." Lilah said , and pretended that nothing had happened.

"You know… I was pretty drunk last night, but I do remember that you two left together."

"Yeah, you were so drunk. You shouldn't drink that much!" Lilah said , trying to change the subject.

"Hey! This is not about me being drunk! It's about what you did to our Vince!"

Lilah stopped and sighed.

"So, that's it! Something happened, right?" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping from her seat, apparently forgetting that she had hangover.

"And what if something happened?"

"I knew it! Tell me, tell me! Oh! You two look so right together!"

"Hey, wait!" Said Lilah, facing Yuffie. She seemed very serious. "It just happened, past tense, you get it? There's nothing going on between Vincent and me now."

"Oh, you did it!!" Yuffie shouted.

"Low your voice, Yuffie, please!" Lilah couldn't help to smile a little bit because of Yuffie's reaction. It seemed that she was very excited about her friend's little affair, but suddenly her face went very serious.

"Lilah… Vincent has gone through very difficult times; his life has been so unfair! I think he deserves a chance."

"I told you, there is nothing going on between us anymore. That was it!"

"But… Why? I just don't get it!"

"I… I can't, I mean, no! It's impossible!"

"Are you married or what?!"

"No! I'm not married! It's just that… Well, it's a story I'm not going to tell you now."

"Oh… Anyway, just don't break Vince's heart, OK? I don't think he can get over it again."

"Again? What do you mean?" Lilah seemed to be interested about Vincent's past, but Yuffie started to complain about her headache again.

"Ouch!... My head! I think I'll take a nap in Marlene's room. I'm not telling you Vince's story today!" Yuffie entered the house, and Lilah could see that Tifa was standing at the door, behind her.

"Lilah… You're doing all wrong." She said and left her alone.


	11. A Friend In Need

**A Friend In Need**

Almost three weeks had past since the last time he had saw her. Yuffie had shown up a couple of times by Vincent's apartment to found out what had happened, but he didn't tell her a thing. Also, he hadn't been at the Seventh Heaven, because he knew Lilah would be there; it would be kind of awkward to see her after their last meeting.

It was about 9PM, and it was raining heavily. Vincent came out of his place only because he needed food. He was walking down a street towards the grocery store, when he realized it was just in front of the park when Lilah had first kissed him, although the place looked quite different now that it was raining. He kept walking towards the store when he saw someone sitting on a bench. It was a woman, she had dark hair, and… looked very much like Lilah.

"No, it can't be." He thought and entered the store.

Vincent bought supplies for a couple of days, just in case it kept raining, and came out of the store. The woman was still there, completely soaked, and she was wearing two swords crossed at her back. It was definitely her. But, what was she doing out there? He couldn't help to approach to her. She didn't seem to realize someone was there, so he sat by her side.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked.

"… Oh! Hello, Vincent." She said. She looked oddly sad. Vincent realized she had a bag to her feet.

"Are you alright?"

"No… Tifa is going to pay my salary next week, but the inn's manager couldn't wait… I went to her place, but there was no one. She told me I didn't have to go to work this weekend, but I didn't know she was going to be out of town… And now it's raining… Great!"

"You can't stay here all night… Come on." He said and picked up her bag.

"What do you mean?" She looked at him, confused.

"We're still friends, right?"

"… I think so."

"Let's go."

They went to his apartment immediately. The place had change a bit since the last time she had been there. There were still some cardboard boxes, but now there was a couch, a table and a couple of chairs.

Vincent took off his wet coat and dropped it onto the floor.

"Go and take a shower if you want. I'll make something to eat." He said and took the groceries to the kitchen.

"Vincent…" He turned around to see her. "Thank you. This means a lot to me." She said, and he nodded and entered the kitchen.

Lilah took her bag and went to the bathroom. She felt so helpless. All she wanted while she sat in that bench was to see Vincent again, to feel safe by his side, just like the last time they had been in that very place. So he appeared, just like she wanted. Things had been hard for her the last weeks: Ives continued sending her money, to convince her to finish the mission, but she rejected it. Now she had no money, and nowhere to go. But she was fine again, thanks to Vincent. She took a shower and put her pajama on. It was a blue cotton tank top and white short pants.

Meanwhile, Vincent made some juice and a few sandwiches. All he had tried to do during the past weeks was get Lilah out of his head, and now he was taking her to his apartment. What else could he do? He cared about her and was not willing to leave her sleeping in a bench under the rain.

When she came out of the bathroom Vincent had already set table.

"Need any help?" She asked, stepping at the door of the kitchen.

"No, everything is ready." He answered.

They sat at the table and started to eat. By the way Lilah was eating; he guessed she hadn't eaten something for the last couple of days at least.

"Why didn't you come here?" He asked her.

"Well… I didn't know if you wanted me to show up, just like that, since I haven't seen you in the bar."

"Hm…"

"…I missed you."

"…"

"The other day… I said a lot of things I didn't mean…"

"Let's just… leave things like they are, for now."

"OK"

They finished dinner and Lilah volunteered to do the dishes, while Vincent went to change into his pajamas as well. It was a black T-shirt and dark gray pants. He was not wearing his bandana, so most of his face was covered with his hair.

"So… where am I going to sleep?" Lilah asked him. She seemed more cheered up now.

"I'll sleep in the couch. You can use my room." He had already taken a pillow and a couple of blankets to the couch.

"Are you sure? The last thing I want to is to make you feel uncomfortable in your own place."

"I'll be fine here." He sat in the couch and looked at her.

"I'm quite tired… I think I'll go to bed right away." She said.

He picked up a book from the floor and laid in the couch.

"Good night, then." He said.

"Good night… and, thanks, again."

She entered the room at the end of the corridor, and closed the door. There was a closet, an end table with a small lamp on, and a bed, of course. There were also some cardboard boxes and guns on the floor. Lilah laid in the bed and hugged the pillow. All the room was filled with Vincent's scent and some mischievous memories came to her mind. She pulled the covers up, and fell asleep quickly.

It was about 3AM, when Lilah woke up. She had had the same dream many times before, and always scared her the same way. There was still raining outside. Lilah got up, and went to the bathroom.

She was still shaky because of the bad dream. It was always the same, she is on a ship, and then a huge green monster appears and the ship capsizes, then she starts drowning. She always woke up feeling she couldn't breathe. She washed her face and came out of the bathroom. What she did after turning off the bathroom's light, did it without thinking at all, maybe because she was feeling scared and alone. There was just a dim light from the street lamp outside the building, but it was enough to see the place very well. She approached the couch where Vincent was sleeping and sat next to him. He turned around, and fixed the pillow under his head, but didn't wake up. Although there was just a small space in the edge of the couch, she managed to laid next to him and cover herself with the blanket.

"Lilah… What are you doing?"

"I don't know… just hug me, please."

He did, and she immediately laid her head on his shoulder. Vincent didn't know what to do, the situation was already complicated. Lilah wrap one of her arms around his waist. She felt so good and calmed down feeling his warm body next to hers. They stayed like this, in silence, for about ten minutes.

"Are you awake?" She finally asked.

"Yes."

"May I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Have you ever been in love?"

"… Yes."

"Tell me."

"I don't like talking about that."

"Please, tell me… I won't tell anyone." But there she was again, looking at him with those beautiful eyes. He couldn't just say no.

"… It was long time ago. I was hired to protect her. And I ended up falling for her…"

"You mean, was she an important person?"

"Her work was important."

"Did you have a relationship with her?"

"Not, actually… I know she was fond of me, but never loved me back the way I did. She married someone else, then."

"That must have been hard for you."

"…She was happy… That's all that mattered to me. I regretted for a long time for not being able to stop her from doing… other things."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter now… All I can tell you is that is because of her that now I'm here."

"She saved your life, or something like that?"

"Something like that…"

"So… Is that how it feels being in love? Caring about the other person more than for yourself?"

"I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"I'd like to know how it feels, being in love."

He held her strongly against his body, and kissed her forehead.

"I can't help it." She said.

"What?"

"Thinking about us just as friends. I tried, but I can't."

"Me either."

"I don't know how much would it last, but I'd like to give it a try. I don't want to spend my whole life regretting of not taking a chance with you."

He stayed in silence, and then gently kissed her lips.

"We'll see what you think about this tomorrow." He said. "You use to regret things you've said and done during the early morning."

She laid her head over his shoulder again, and quickly fell asleep.


	12. Meeting Shelke

**Meeting Shelke**

Vincent woke up about 10PM, and it was not raining anymore. The couch was not as comfortable as it looked, because he felt pain all over his back. Lilah was still sleeping, and she seemed to had spent a better night, although she was almost falling from the couch. He managed to get up without waking her up. As he was already feeling hungry, he went directly to the kitchen. He was willing to make some breakfast when he noticed his cell phone was on the table. He had this habit of leaving it on vibration, so he checked it right away. He had two missed calls from Yuffie. He thought about calling her back, but the phone started to vibrate in that very moment.

"Hello." He said.

"Hey! I've been calling you for ages! We're just getting to your place, better be dressed when we get there.. See ya!"

"Yuffie…Wait!" But she had already hung up.

He felt like losing control for a couple of seconds. Yuffie was good at jumping to conclusions, and Lilah was sleeping on his couch. Surely this was going to give Yuffie something to talk about for a while. But, what else could he do? He went to the bathroom, and washed his face, and by the time someone was knocking at the door he was putting his hair in a low ponytail. He walked into the living room, and checked if Lilah was still asleep, and she was.

Someone knocked at the door again. He thought it was strange that Yuffie wasn't shouting outside for him to open the door.

He opened the door, but it was not Yuffie who he met in the other side. It was Shelke.

"Surprise!" Yuffie shouted.

"Hi, Vincent." The girl said. Although she was almost twenty years old, she seemed to be about ten because she had been exposed to mako. Shelke Rui had been member of the Tsviets, an elite group of soldiers from Deepground, but she joined Vincent and the WRO some time before the Omega Crisis ended. She was no ordinary girl. She had the ability of upload information into her neural network, and that was the reason because she had been in Deepground. They had asked her to upload the remaining data fragments of Lucrecia Crescent's investigation on Omega and Chaos. But she didn't only have Lucrecia's data in her consciousness, she also had some of her memories and wishes. So, Shelke served as a link between Lucrecia and Vincent, and this helped him to somehow get over his past.

"Shelke… nice to see you again." He said, showing only his head out of the apartment, so the girls couldn't see anything from outside.

"Hey! You're still wearing pajamas!" Yuffie said.

"I'm kind of… busy now." He said.

"You sure have a mess in there… I'll help you clean up!" Said Yuffie as she forced herself into the apartment. Vincent just sighed, and Shelke entered the apartment as well. "Ok… Where do I begin from?" Yuffie said.

"You sure can't begin from the couch." Shelke said, when she realized there was someone sleeping in there. Yuffie turned around and saw Lilah, who had just woke up, and was sitting in the couch.

"Lilah?... What are you doing here?" Yuffie asked, quite surprised.

"Long story." Vincent answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and laying against the wall.

"Hi, Yuffie." Lilah said, yawning.

"Oh, you don't know each other, right?" Yuffie asked Shelke. The girl shook her head, saying no.

"This is our friend, Lilah, she works with Tifa in the bar. Lilah, this is our friend Shelke." Explained Yuffie.

"Nice to meet you, Lilah." Shelke said, lightly bowing her head.

"Nice to meet you too."

"So… Did you already have breakfast, guys?" Yuffie asked.

"Not yet." Vincent said.

"Oh!, you sure have a lot to talk about! Is it Ok if I make some breakfast, Vincent?" Lilah said, getting up.

"I guess." He answered, and Lilah went to the kitchen.

"I'll help you!" Yuffie said, following her.

Vincent approached the couched and started to fold the blankets.

"I see you have settled down, Vincent Valentine."

"Hmm…" He put the blankets and the pillow over a pile of boxes. "Take a seat."

"Thank you." She said and sat in the couch.

Meanwhile, Lilah was searching the kitchen for some bowls and spoons. It seemed that all Vincent had for breakfast were cereals and milk.

"Tell me everything." Yuffie said, getting in her way.

"Everything about what?"

"You know, how you ended up sleeping on Vince's couch!"

"Well, I ran out of money, the manager kicked me out of the inn, and Vincent offered me his place to spend the night, that's all."

"Mmm… I don't believe you."

"Believe whatever you want… Take this to the table, please. You two are having breakfast with us too, right?" Lilah handed Yuffie some spoons and a cereal box.

"Sure!"

Yuffie took the things to the table and found Vincent sitting next to Shelke in the couch. They were talking in low voice. Lilah had finally found out where Vincent kept his bowls, and took them, along with a jar with milk, to the table. Yuffie finished setting the table, and Lilah approached Vincent and Shelke.

"Vincent…" She said tapping him on the shoulder. "Breakfast is ready."

"… Thank you" He said, looking at her.

Lilah smiled at them, and sat at the table.

"It was in a very old memory that I saw that look in your eyes, Vincent." Shelke said, sitting up.

He just looked down, and then sat up too.

"I'm so glad you finally moved on… You don't need to tell me anything, it is so clear to me."

Vincent realized that there were not only Shelke's words he was hearing, they were Lucrecia's as well.

"You know I can't age. It's difficult to move on when I realize I'll see everyone die." He told her.

"Don't worry about the future. Now, let's have some breakfast, the girls are waiting for us."

"We came to bring you to Tifa's, but Lilah told me that she is not in town until tomorrow, so I guess we'll be leaving now, thanks for breakfast!" said Yuffie, when they were already finished, walking towards the door. Shelke followed her.

"We can meet there tomorrow's evening." Lilah said, while cleaning the table.

Vincent walked the girls to the main door.

"Think about what I told you." Shelke said to Vincent. He nodded. "Good bye."

"Bye." He said and closed the door.

Maybe Shelke was right: there was no use in thinking about the future, when he was not taking some time to live his own present. He was not willing to let thirty more years pass in front of him. Maybe it was time to really move on. He looked at Lilah once again. She was concentrated in not dropping anything while taking the dishes to the kitchen.

"You may leave that in the sink. I'll take care of them later."

"Take care of them?" Lilah said, chuckling. "It sounds like you are going pick up Cerberus and shoot the plates one by one." She said, getting back to the living room.

"Maybe I will, I hate doing the dishes. But, now… I have a better idea." He said walking towards her, looking directly into her eyes.

"Really? It'll have to wait, 'cause now I'm going to take a quick shower and get changed." She said and turned around towards the corridor.

"I think that…" He said, and with a quick movement took both of her hands at her back, pulled her towards him, facing her, and immobilized her. "You are going to need a little help."

"Vincent!" She said, surprised by his behavior. He slowly began to walk towards the corridor.

"I think that taking those clothes off may be a very hard task for you to do by your own." He said, and then kissed her neck.

"Is this really you?"

"Want to find out?" He said, entered his bedroom and closed the door.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews!... Don't forget to leave some more!**


	13. Betrayal

**Betrayal**

It was about 10am and Vincent was almost ready to go out. He took a look at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. He noticed something different in him; somehow, he seemed happy. He put his bandana on, and went back to his bedroom. He couldn't help to smile a little when he noticed Lilah was now sleeping in the middle of the bed. He kneeled next to the bed, gently touched her head, and kissed her forehead.

"Lilah… Wake up." She heard. It was Vincent's deep voice by her ear.

"What's up?" Lilah said, yawning, and sitting in the bed. Vincent sat next to her.

"Reeve called. I'm going to headquarters now."

"Ok… Take care… And tell him that I willing to help too." She said. Then, she laid down again, and close her eyes wanting to sleep some more.

"Good…And… I left something for you in the kitchen." He said, on his way to the door.

"It is food?" She asked, raising her head.

"No" Vincent said as he opened the door of the room.

"Hey!... Kiss." Lilah demanded. He came back to her side and kissed her.

"Bye." He said and, finally left.

* * *

When Vincent arrived at the WRO, Reeve was waiting for him at his office. 

"I received a mysterious call a couple of hours ago, Vincent." He explained.

Vincent just concentrated on his words, as he sat in front of his desk.

"An anonymous man told me there is an organization, apparently linked to some remaining Deepground troops. They are planning an assault on Edge. He gave me the location of their headquarters."

"It may be a trap." Vincent said.

"I've already thought about that. Anyway, I think we need to proceed with caution. I need you to lead a small scout operation in the area he mentioned, just to know if there is some activity."

Vincent nodded.

"He also said that they had a spy in the WRO."

"A spy?"

"Yes… So, be careful."

"I will."

"I'm counting on you, Vincent. Keep me informed."

Vincent left the office, and immediately started to get ready for the operation.

* * *

Although Lilah kept telling everyone that she was looking for her own place to live, something cheaper than the inn, the truth was that during the five days she had been living in the apartment, she hadn't even tried and she and Vincent had by then some kind of relationship, and they were enjoying their time together. 

That morning Lilah couldn't go on sleeping and got up. She took a shower, got dressed and went to the kitchen. Over the table there was a silver key. She picked it up, and smiled. Vincent had left her a copy of his apartment key. She had some breakfast, and came out to work.

She was on her way to the bar when her cell phone rang.

"Hello".

"Oh! Nice to hear your voice again!"

"Murdoch!... What do you want?" She said and stopped walking.

"How's everything going? We haven't heard from you for a long time."

"I quit."

"That's not what Ives thinks. He knows where you're staying, Lilah, and he wants you back, at any cost."

"I can take care of myself."

"You sure?"

"Is this some kind of threat? 'Cause if it is, I tell you, I'm not scared."

"You better be." He said and hung up.

Lilah knew this was going to happen, and she had to do something about it. Maybe it was time to tell everybody the truth, especially to Vincent.

She got to the bar, and Cloud was just going out on his bike. He only raised his hand to say hi, and left.

Lilah entered the place. There were already a couple of clients, and Tifa was at the bar, helping Marlene with some drawings.

"Hi!" Lilah said. As usual, she left her bag and her swords on the other side of the bar.

Both, Marlene and Tifa said hi too, though Tifa seemed a little concerned.

"Is everything ok?" Lilah asked her.

"Marlene, why don't you finish your drawing in your room? I need to talk to Lilah."

"Ok." The little girl said. She picked up her sketch book, her crayons, and ran towards the house.

"There was some guy here this morning. He asked Marlene where you were. When I came out to ask what he wanted, he just left. I was concerned for her safety, that's why she's not at school now."

"What did he look like?"

"I just caught a glimpse of him. He was large, and blonde." Lilah knew it was Murdoch.

"Did Marlene tell him something?"

"She told him you were staying at Vincent's"

"Great!" She said, ironically, and laid against the bar.

"He also left this for you." Tifa said, handing her a closed envelope.

"What?" Lilah opened it up. There were some pictures of her. It seemed like they had been spying on her. There was also some documents about her and her reports on other missions. They surely wanted to uncover her.

"Tifa… I need to do something right away. I swear I'll explain everything later, but I need to go now." Lilah said, picking up her bag, and blades again.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked.

"I promise. I'll explain everything later… Sorry!" She said and walked out of the bar.

Lilah had to end with this situation for once and for all, and she went straight to Ives headquarters. To her surprise, her cardkey was still valid. As soon as the door opened , she stormed into the place, directly to Ives' office.

"What does this mean?" She said throwing the envelope onto his desk.

"We've been… Watching over you." He answered.

"I see you haven't realized that… I quit." She said, and struck the desk with her fist.

"You can always reconsider it. I already have the information I needed of the WRO… You are good at you job, and I don't want to give you up just because you got involved with that… Former Turk."

She looked at him surprised.

"Oh, so you didn't know Mr. Valentine used to be a Turk?"

"… Nothing you can say will make me change my mind, Ives. Stop playing games. I quit, you still have Murdoch and many others here… You don't need me."

"Unfortunately… You already have too much information. Let's make things easier for both of us: You keep on working for me, and you won't have to give any explanation to your so-called new friends."

"…"

"They are already here, Lilah. I sent Reeve Tuesti some valuable information this morning. They have a squad watching this area now… And guess who is in charge of it? Your dear Vincent Valentine. As soon as you step out of this place, you will not longer be part of this organization, neither of theirs… You'll be all by yourself again, just as you were fifteen years ago."

Lilah couldn't contain her anger and punch him right in his face. In that moment, she went blank. When she regained consciousness, she was holding Ives by his neck against the wall. His face was covered in blood. There were also some Deepground soldiers all around her, all of them ready to shoot.

Lilah let go of Ives, and walked away from him. It has been years since she hadn't lost control like this, and she felt a little dizzy. The Phoenix was usually a gentle creature, but sometimes it just came out fiercely, especially if she was in danger or too angry.

"You can't even keep that creature in you controlled any longer." Ives said, as he got on his feet. "You deserve each other."

"Just… Stay out of my way." She said, as she got ready to fight her way out.

"Let her go." He ordered the soldiers. They immediately lowered their guns.

Lilah walked out of the office and then started to walk through the tunnels again. She knew what she would have to face once she was out, in the ruins of Midgar.

* * *

"Sir… There is some activity. Someone just came out from the cave." 

Vincent picked up the binoculars, but the area was too dusty to see clearly.

"You two, come with me… I'll take care of this." He said, and followed by two WRO soldiers, he cautiously approached the entrance of the cave. As he reached the area, he realized there was someone standing outside the cave.

"Rise your hands… Now!" He said, as he approached, Cerberus in hand, ready to shoot.

Lilah drew her swords, and left them on the floor. Then, she raised her hands above her head. She heard footsteps coming in her direction. She knew it was him, she had already recognized his voice, but didn't felt strong enough to look at him, so she kept her eyes fixed in the floor.

"Return to your positions." Vincent said to the other soldiers, as he lowered his gun.

"But, sir…" Said one of the soldiers.

"Now!" He ordered. The two soldiers left immediately.

* * *

Lilah heard the footsteps stop right in front of her. 

"A spy in the WRO… It was obvious now that I think about it... I feel so stupid."

"I was a spy… I was."

"Once a spy, always a spy."

"Once a Turk, always a Turk." She said, and dared to look at him. His red orbs seemed to be on fire, but, at the same time, they held much sadness. It was the very first time he looked at her with that amount of emotion in his eyes.

"Vincent Valentine, the Turk, died a long time ago."

"If you just let me.."

"…Explain? There is nothing to explain." He said, and walked towards her. Lilah felt tears filling her eyes. "I guess I was completely wrong. I'll let you go, for now." He turned around, and started to walk away."

"Vincent… I love you." She said, while lowering her hands.

"…People like you are just incapable of feeling love." He said, without turning back, and continued on walking.

She kept looking at him until all she could see was a shadow in the distance. Lilah fell on her knees and started to cry. Just as Ives had told her, she was all alone now.


	14. Second Chances

**Second Chances**

"Stand!"

Lilah looked back and saw Murdoch at the entrance of the cave.

"This is what you wanted, right? But if you think I'm going back now, you are totally wrong!"

"Think about it… What are you gonna do now? You have nowhere to go; the WRO will be hunting for you in no time." Murdoch approached, and tapped her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" She picked up one of her swords, stood up, and pointed at his face. "Don't ever dare to touch me again!"

"Look at what you have become in… crying like a little girl. You were right… We don't need you anymore." He turned around going back into the cave.

Lilah cleaned her face with the back on her hand, even though tears were still coming out from her eyes. She put her swords at her back again, and started to walk. She had nowhere to go and wandered for a couple of hours, feeling miserable. She didn't realize when she was in front of the ruins of a church. The doors where wide open, and something made her enter the place. She walked down the aisle, and stopped in front of a natural pool, covered with flower petals. Although it was in ruins, some kind of peace could be felt in the place. Lilah calmed down a bit, and sat on the floor. She thought that maybe she could stay a little longer there, until she could figure out what was going to do next. She couldn't believe what was happening to her, her tears didn't want to stop, and was very tired of wandering.

"Lilah?" Someone said.

Lilah turned around and saw Cloud standing at the door.

"Cloud… What are you doing here?" She said, and stood up.

"I was going to ask you the same… I come here from time to time." He approached to her. "Are you ok?" He asked her when he realized she was crying.

"No, I'm not." She answered.

Cloud obviously didn't know what had happened yet, so she decided to tell him everything. He silently listened to her words.

"You were like my family… I guess I screwed it all up. I'm all alone again." She said, finally.

"That's not true." He said, after hearing her story.

"What? I've already told you how Vincent reacted, how do you think the others will react? I bet they already know by now."

"I don't think so… I know Vincent is quite unpredictable, but I'm almost sure he only informed Reeve about this, and only because he had to. We should go and tell the others now."

"You think they will forgive me?" She asked, doubtful.

"Lilah… Did you know that Yuffie join us just because she wanted to steal our materia? Or that Reeve used to work for Shinra? I think you'll have your second chance too."

They rode Fenrir to the Seventh Heaven immediately. It was about 3pm.

Tifa could see Lilah had been crying, and she was still worried about her since the morning.

"Lilah… What happened?" She asked, as soon as she saw her and Cloud enter the bar.

Lilah didn't felt like explaining everything again right then.

"We'll tell you everything when the others arrive. I'll call them right away." Cloud said, taking out his cell phone.

Lilah sat at one of the tables. Tifa noticed she was still very nervous, so she gave her a glass of water.

Cid, Yuffie, and Barret were in town, so they showed up about half an hour after Cloud called them. Nanaki was in Cosmo Canyon, so he couldn't go. Reeve, who was already informed of the situation, sent Cait Sith to the meeting. And, of course, Vincent didn't even answer his cell phone.

Once everybody was there, Tifa closed the bar, and Lilah explained everything that had happened.

"I swear I had nothing to do with Von Gorge since the night of the party… When Reeve asked me to help the WRO I knew I had to quit. I'm sorry I lied to all of you." Lilah said after explaining everything.

Yuffie stood up, approached her, and slapped her face. But then, she hugged her tight.

"I think that Yuffie acts for everyone else." Tifa said.

"We are your friends, but you'll have to gain our trust again… I'm sorry." Yuffie said.

"Look who's talking… The materia stalker." Cid said.

"I think we should focus on what Von Gorge is planning." Reeve said through Cait. "I'll wait for all of you tomorrow in headquarters. We need to plan our moves."

"I know his center of operations very well… I'll help in everything I can." Lilah said.

They all agreed. Then Cid and Cait left.

"You can stay here, Lilah." Cloud said.

"Yes. You can use my room." Tifa said.

"But, where are you going to sleep." Lilah ssked.

Cloud smiled a bit.

"Don't make that face, Cloud… I'll sleep in Marlene's room!" Tifa said.

"Lilah, do you want me to pick up you things at Vinnie's?" Yuffie asked.

"… Ok." She said, and handed her the key Vincent had gave her that very morning. "Vincent's closet was full, so I left my clothes in a bag next to the bedroom's window… Almost everything around it is mine. You can leave him the key."

"I was thinking about sneaking in, but if you have a key… That makes things easier. I'll be right back!" said Yuffie, and left.

Cloud left to make some deliveries, and Tifa decided to open the bar again.

"You don't have to help me if you don't want to, Lilah." She said.

"It doesn't matter… I think it'll help me to stop thinking too much."

"If I was mad when you told us what had happened, I can imagine how Vincent was."

"I wanted him to know, but not like this." Said Lilah, and started to arrange chairs and tables in its places again, while Tifa cleaned up.

"You two were… together, right?"

"Kind of… I love him very much… I didn't mean to hurt him. Though is too late for that, now. And I don't want to talk about him anymore… it hurts."

About 6pm, Lilah felt tired and went to take a nap in Tifa's room. A couple of minutes later, Yuffie came back. She was holding Lilah's bag.

"What took you so long?" Tifa asked.

"I met Reno on my way to Vincent's. I don't know how, but he already knew everything! But it was hard to explain him that Lilah was one of us now. You know, he's not very smart."

Tifa laughed.

"He said he and Rude were going to help us too, I told them about tomorrow's meeting in headquarters."

"Good to hear that! But, what about Vincent? Was he home?"

"Oh! It was scary! He was drunk, sleeping on the couch. He didn't even realize I was there. And it seemed that Galian Beast got loose in the apartment 'cause the walls were all scratched… everything was upside down!"

"Oh… Too bad."

"Where's Lilah?"

"She was quite tired. She's taking a nap in my room."

"I'll go and give her her stuff."

"Ok, but, Yuffie… don't tell her what you saw in the apartment. She's already feeling down."

"Sure."

Yuffie entered the house, and knocked the door of Tifa's room.

"It is me, Yuffie… I've got your things."

"Come in" Lilah said.

Yuffie entered and found Lilah lying on the bed.

"Were you sleeping?"

"No." Lilah said, sitting in the bed.

"Here you have. Sorry if I something is wrinkled, I just put everything inside the bag."

"Don't worry. Thanks."

Lilah started to take her clothes out of the bag, and fold them. Suddenly, Yuffie saw she stopped. Lilah was holding the black T-shirt Vincent usually used for sleeping.

"This… is not mine." She said, her eyes filled with tears again.

"Sorry!" Yuffie said, taking the shirt from Lilah's hands. "I'll return it tomorrow… Oh! Vinnie needs to do his laundry, this stinks!"

"It does not!" Lilah said, took the shirt back, and hugged it. "I think I'll keep this."

"I left the key, just as you asked me to."

"Ok…"

"Don't be sad, Lilah." Said Yuffie, and sat next to her. "I know everything will be alright. When Vincent realizes you're on our side, he will stop being mad at you."

"I wouldn't be that sure, but you may right… The only thing I can do now is help Reeve to stop Ives."

"That's the spirit! I'll help Tifa in the bar, so you can rest a little longer, ok?" Yuffie got up, and walked towards the door.

"Thank you."

"No prob." Yuffie said, and left Lilah alone. She laid in bed again, still holding Vincent's shirt in her hands. Lilah closed her eyes, and imagined she was in his bed again. She finally calmed down, and fell asleep.


	15. Tactics

**Tactics**

It was about 7 am. Lilah woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. She had just sat in the bed, when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in." She said. The door opened, and a spiky, messy, blonde head appeared.

"Good you're already awake… we'll be leaving for the headquarters in an hour… get ready, ok?" Cloud said.

"Ok."

Cloud closed the door again, and Lilah got up.

The Shadowfox arrived exactly an hour. They were all ready to go by then.

Once they got to headquarters, they met with Reno, Rude, and Nanaki, who had just arrived from Cosmo Canyon. Once they were all together, they met with Reeve in his office.

"As you all know, we are facing a new enemy." Reeve explained. "His name is Ives von Gorge. We are not sure what is he after, but he is a threat. We'll be attacking his headquarters in three days. Until then, we'll prepare a plan."

"I heard that there are still some troops from Deepground remaining active." Reno said.

"Yes," Reeve said, "and they seem to be under Von Gorge's orders. I recently discovered that some information about summoning materia was stolen from our data base. Maybe that's how they pan to attack."

"But we did handle Bahamut on Edge two years ago!" Yuffie said.

"I know, but this time it could be a whole army of them." Reeve said. Yuffie just made a very concerned face. "We have to stop him before it's too late. That's all for you now. I need you all to start preparing… And, Lilah, I need you to stay to start planning. As you've already been in his headquarters…"

"Sure." She said. Everyone else left, except Tifa, who stayed and started to talk with Reeve in low voice. Lilah sat in the chair just in front of Reeve's desk, and wait for him.

Meanwhile, Tifa and Reeve were talking.

"I still don't understand why you want me to this." He said.

"I can't tell you anything else, Reeve… I promised I would keep it secret."

"I'll see what I can do… he should be here by now. I called him early."

"Great!, just don't tell Lilah a thing about this, please."

"Lilah?... but… Oh, so Lilah is… I get it now, don't worry."

After Tifa left, Reeve and Lilah started to sketch some maps of Von Gorge's headquarters, and planning how troops should be placed, and everything else related to the attack.

After that, she was going to leave to Edge, when she saw a very familiar red cloaked shape near the bridge, outside headquarters. She walked closer and realized that it was Vincent.

"Vincent…" She said, walking closer. He turned around, and when he saw her, immediately walked away. "Don't run away! We need to talk." She said and stood in his way.

"I have nothing to discuss with you." He said. He face was almost completely hidden by his collar and the long bangs of his hair.

"Well, I do! You know what?" Lilah said , and walked towards him. "I listened to you yesterday, and you treated me like trash!... It's time YOU do the listening!"

He just stayed in silence for a couple of seconds. Then he crossed his arms over his chest, and laid against the wall behind him. Lilah understood he was going to listen to her.

"Vincent… I'm sorry, I knew I had to tell you the truth someday, but I didn't want it to be that way… I didn't mean to hurt you. I just want you to know that I quit my job as a spy the night of the party. Everything that happened from that moment on was true, I was not acting…"

"Are you finished?" He interrupted her.

"…Yes. I wish you could forgive me someday…" He started to walk towards the building. "But I hope is not too late by then." She said, but he just pretended he didn't listen to her. A part of him wanted to believe every word she had just said, and go back to her. But the other part was already too disappointed to give another chance, even if she was telling the truth or not.

As Vincent walked to headquarters' main door, he could still feel her gaze fixed on him, but he wouldn't turn around.

"Mr. Valentine… The commissioner will be seeing you now." A young WRO soldier that approached to him said as soon as he entered the building.

Once he got to Reeve's office, he sat in front of his desk.

"Why did you call me? You knew Lilah would be here." He said.

"Sorry if you felt uncomfortable… we were just planning the…"

"Do you trust her?" Vincent asked, interrupting Reeve.

"Why not? She has proved she's sorry for what happened. We all make mistakes, Vincent."

"Hm…"

"Anyway, I have a special mission for you. I found some old Shinra archives about an investigation Dr. Gast made in Icicle. I have enough antecedents to believe that twenty years ago he made a similar experimentation to the one that Hojo made on you."

"Gast was a good person… I don't think he would do such a thing."

"I know, but this procedure had a different goal. I want you to gather information in his old laboratory. This person may still be alive, we have to locate him or her before others do."

"Right…"

"Just keep me informed."

As soon as Vincent left the office, Reeve picked up the phone and dialed Tifa's cell phone number.

"It is done… He's on his way to Icicle now."


	16. The Truth

**The ****Truth**

Vincent arrived at Icicle Inn at about 11pm. He rented a room immediately; the trip had been long and tiring. Anyway, during the trip he had time enough to think about what Lilah had told him. Reeve was right, everyone makes mistakes, he had made grave mistakes in the past… But he had trusted her. And now that he was half a world away from her, he had started to miss her. It had been only a few days that they shared in his apartment, but he had got used to her company, to her smile, to her kind way of showing him she cared about him, to the way she used to hold to him at night.

"_Is this… love? Never thought I __could feel like this again…"_

The next morning, the first place he started to investigate was Dr. Gast's old laboratory. The place had been abandoned for 20 years, and there were all kinds of fiends lurking around. All he could find were some old handwritten files in which the doctor mentioned that the subject of one of his last experiments had been a young woman he had found drowned near the underwater reactor at Junon, after an incident caused by Emerald Weapon. According to the files, the doctor experimented on the body, based on Dr. Hojo's researches, but mainly on Dr. Crescent's Chaos Project.

"_It was not just a project…"_

The last note was made after the subject had woken up, after the doctor injected some genes from an ancient entity, just like the ones of Vincent, and the rest of Avalanche had summoned so many times during their battle against Shinra, and Sephiroth: Phoenix.

"The previous procedures made her body strong, and ageless. The subject reacted favorable after the injection of the cells. Nevertheless, she suffers of severe amnesia, and doesn't remember about her life before the event. As Phoenix is a gentle creature, she will be able to control it in short time."

The date of this last file was a couple of days before the Turks attacked the laboratory searching for Ifalna, and her daughter.

"_Phoenix… How appropriate."_

Vincent gathered the documents, and went back to the town, where he asked some of the inhabitants about this young woman; no one seemed to remember anything about her.

It was going to be difficult to locate this woman without even knowing her name, or at least how she looked. That's why Vincent decided to travel to Junon.

There, he managed to meet with an old port officer, who had worked for Shinra during the time of the accident.

"I remember quite well." The old man said. "All was that green thing's fault! It came out some time after the departure of a cargo ship, one of the best ships we had, I must say. It destroyed it, and big part of the dock too."

"I'm looking for any information about a woman that disappeared during the accident." Vincent explained.

"Well, that must be Miss Alina. She was the only woman on board! Yes, I remember her, she was taking chocobos for selling to Costa del Sol. What a nice young lady she was! What a pity…"

"Are there any relatives I could talk to?"

"No, she had no family. If you need information about her, I advice you to go to the Chocobo Farm, and talk to Chole or Billy. Miss Alina was a very good friend of their mother."

Vincent gave some gil to the old man to thank him for the information, and left for the Chocobo Farm.

He continued right away, he already knew the name of the woman, so things were going to be easier now on.

Once he got there, he asked Chole for some information about this woman, Alina.

"Alina Caine?" Chole asked. "Yes, my mother used to talk a lot about her. They were like sisters because they grew up together, here, in the farm. She died in an accident while she was taking some chocobos for selling…"

"I already know that." Vincent said. He was already thinking that those words were going to be all the information he was going to get about her.

"Mr. Valentine… I can get you some old pictures of her if you need them." Chole said.

"Sure."

The girl ran from the stable to the house, and came back with a small, old cardboard box.

"Here they are." She said. "This was Alina, the girl with dark hair. The blond one was my mother." The young woman Chole was pointing to was sitting on a bench outside the stable, next to another woman with long and curly blond hair. Vincent was very impressed when he realized that the woman he had been looking for… looked exactly like Lilah!

"…Are you… Are you sure this is Alina Caine?" Vincent asked, still concerned for what his eyes were seeing.

"Yes, completely sure."

Vincent started to look to the other pictures. Those eyes, that smile… It was definitely her, thought she was wearing her hair longer in the picture.

"May I… keep this?"

"I can only give you one of them… You see, they were my mother's, these were her little treasures."

"Sure… thank you." He said, and picked one in which she was wearing a blue dress, and was hugging a chocobo by its neck, smiling, as always.

Vincent came out of the Chocobo Farm. Then, he picked up his cell phone, and dialed Reeve's number.

"Vincent… how is your investigation doing?"

"You knew it, right?"

"… I… suspected it."

"… I'll be retuning to Edge now."

"Good! We're just about to attack Von Gorge's headquarters. Meet us outside the place."

Vincent didn't felt like talking anymore, and just hung up. Then he made haste to the nearest train station; he wanted to return to Edge as soon as possible. The mere thought of Lilah being experimented on brought anger to his heart.

* * *

**NOTE**: I just enabled the anonymous reviews. Please, don't flame!!! Just nice and constructive reviews! Thanks. 


	17. Beneath The Ruins

**Beneath The Ruins**

Lilah kept her eyes shut during the way to the ruins of Midgar. It was time to confront her fears and finally put an end to this nightmare.

The Shadowfox and the other vehicles stopped about 300 feet away from the entrance of the cave.

"It's weird… I bet they already know we're here, but there's no signs of… anyone!" Tifa said, after they got off, and realized the place was deserted.

"They are probably waiting for us inside." Lilah said.

"Those DG soldiers! They're hiding like rats!" Yuffie said.

"Everyone… last minute meeting!" Reeve said. The entire group gathered around him. "Ok. Let's go through the plan again: Lilah, you'll be leading squad A. A group of our soldiers, along with Barret, Reno, and Tifa will go with you to help you clear the way. Squad B: Cloud, you're the leader. A group of soldier will accompany you, as well as Nanaki, and Yuffie. I'll be the leader of Squad C. Rude and Cid will be here with me to provide any help to the ones inside the cave, such as provisions or reinforcements. Squad A will depart immediately, followed by Squad B ten minutes later. Keep your radios on, and… Good luck!"

"Come on… This way." Lilah said. She drew out her swords, and started walking towards the cave, followed by the members of her squad.

They were all quite surprised to see that the only living creatures inside the cave were some fiends, and themselves. Obviously, Lilah's cardkey was not longer valid, so Barret made his way through the door with his gun machine. As soon as the way was clear, some DG soldiers came from inside, but they were easily defeated. However, the rest of the place seemed as isolated as the entrance.

"Where else could they be?" Lilah said in loud voice.

"I thought you knew the place." Tifa said.

"I do, but… I thought they would be here… Let's check Ives' office." Lilah said. The rest started to examine the place. The door was locked, so Reno helped her to open it, charging against the door a couple of times. Once it was opened, they realize the room was empty.

"How can this be…?" Lilah said.

"Are you sure this was his office?" Reno asked her, while checking every corner of the room.

"Yeah… I'm sure." She answered. In that moment, Cloud and his squad arrived.

"There's nothing." Tifa said to him.

Lilah couldn't believe it: Ives had escaped.

"He had time to run away." She said. Then, Nanaki started smelling the back wall of the room.

"There's something here." He said.

Reno approached the wall and knocked a couple of times with his rod.

"The wall is fake." He said.

"What are we waiting for? Let's blow that thing away!" Barret said, getting his gun machine ready.

"Wait!" Cloud said, and walked towards the wall. "There has to be some kind of mechanism to open it. Otherwise, they couldn't have closed it."

"Cloud's right!" Lilah said. "Come on, let's check the place again."

After twenty minutes of looking and searching, they didn't found anything.

"It seems like we're going to have to blow it away, Barret." Tifa said, and sighed.

"Oh! Open up!" Yuffie yelled, and stomped her feet onto the floor.

To her and everyone else's surprise, the door opened.

"What the…?" Reno said.

"The floor… there has to be some kind of trigger under the spot Yuffie hit." Lilah said, getting down and looking at that part of the floor. "Good job, Yuffie!"

"Cool!" Yuffie said, and stomped her feet again…and again, making the door open and close a couple of times.

"Yuffie, please, stop it!" Tifa said.

"Sorry" Yuffie apologized, and the whole group entered through the door.

They found themselves in a large corridor, that went straight and down.

"Have you been here before, Lilah?" Nanaki asked.

"Never." She answered.

"It seems that it goes all the way to Deepground City." Cloud said.

"If only Vince were here… He knows this place quite well." Yuffie said, looking worried.

"But he's not… We'll have to make our way in by ourselves." Lilah said, and started to walk forward.

Meanwhile, Reeve was checking on the radar inside the Shadowfox. The three squads had trackers, so he was watching the movements of his friends on the screen. In that moment, he heard someone getting in the vehicle. He turned around and saw that Vincent had already arrived. Vincent sat in the row of seats in front of Reeve.

"Is the mission going fine?" He asked, finally.

"Yes, but it troubles me the fact that they had encounter so few enemies along the way."

Vincent got to his feet, sat next to Reeve, and watched the screen.

"It is a trap. They are going straight to Deepground City. Do you think they can handle it?"

"Yes, I think they can. Anyway, I'm going to warn them." Reeve picked up his radio. "Squad A?" There was no answer. "Lilah?" He insisted. Vincent frowned at him and stood up.

"… Reno here… we're pretty busy now, Reeve. Von Gorge is nowhere to be found, but he left some DG soldiers more to give us a warm welcome." Reeve could hear battle noises in the background.

"Everyone's ok? Do you need any back up?"

"You better talk to Cloud..."

"Cloud speaking. Reeve, we're fine, but we could use some extra help… send some soldiers."

"I'll send them right away." Reeve said, and put the radio down again. Immediately he gave Rude the order to prepare a small new squad.

Lilah integrated perfectly to the battle rhythm of the group. They defeated the soldiers and continued on into the tunnel, until they reached a wide area, lighted only by some torches in the walls.

"Never thought you'd get this far." Someone said. Lilah knew it was Ives.

"Did you think those stupid soldiers would stop us?" Lilah said , and walked forward. "I thought you knew your enemies… they were nothing against us."

"Do you want to choose which one of these wonderful materias should I use first?" He said walking towards the group. Both of his arms were fully loaded with summoning materia. The whole team, including the WRO soldiers, got their weapons ready to fight.

"Stop right there… you're outnumbered. The best thing you can do is surrender." Cloud said, walking towards him too.

"I don't need anything else if I have these powerful companions." Ives said, looking at the bright colored materias in his possession. "It's enough of this nonsense! I'll kill all of you, and every soul in this planet will know who Ives von Gorge is." He started laughing, and then concentrated to make his first summon.

"I won't allow you to do that!" Lilah shouted. A bright yellow light surrounded her, her hair change its color to red, her clothes turned into a multicolor feathered dress, just as the pair of wings that appeared in her back. She was no longer Lilah, but the mighty Phoenix. With her emerald eyes burning, and her swords in her hands, Phoenix ran at an amazing speed to attack Von Gorge. To everyone's surprise, he was just a hologram.

"You still think you can stop me, don't you?" He said, and laughed. "Well, you'll have to pass through my powerful warden." The hologram vanished, and a huge dark cloud appeared over their heads. It concentrated in front of Phoenix, and took the shape of one of the most powerful summons they had ever met: Odin. The horseman held his ride up, and then rode off towards Phoenix and the rest of the group. Maybe this time their skills and strength, and not even the help of Phoenix, were going to be enough.


	18. Confusion

**Confusion **

The first movement Odin made was against Cloud, but he dodged it just in time. The creature was so fast that they could barely avoid being hurt, and were also failing to attack him. Phoenix managed to strike him with some fire attacks, but it as soon as Odin realized where they came from, he went after her. Phoenix was fast, and this worked in her and her friends' favor. Odin was not being able to attack her, so this gave Cloud and the others the chance of get close to him. This tactic worked for some rounds, but that was when Odin started to cast magic. The spells were powerful and easily knocked out half of the WRO soldiers.

"I can hold him for a moment. Attack him with all your strength." Phoenix told Cloud and cast Haste in the whole party. Then, she released an attack that magically tied up Odin; he was unable to move or to cast another spell.

"Reeve? Reeve, are you there?" Yuffie tried to make contact, but it was not working. She had already given up when she heard a familiar deep voice through the radio.

"Reeve is sending a squad right now."

"Vince? What are you doing there? We need help now! Lilah won't be able to hold this thing for much longer! Vincent?"

* * *

Vincent hung up the radio and jumped out of the Shadowfox. He could feel Lilah was in grave danger, even before he talked to Yuffie, and he was not willing to fail again, not this time. He saw Reeve approaching, but there was no time to waste. He hurried to the cave, and pass through the squad Reeve had just sent. He had been in Deepground city before, but never in this area. Before he knew, he was completely lost in that rocky underground labyrinth.

He run through the seemingly endless tunnels, but they all looked the same. He stopped for a couple of seconds to rest, when he heard battle noises coming from ahead. He was getting close, so immediately went on. A few feet ahead he noticed the corridor was lighted by torches. Then, he heard voices, but they were not from any of his friends. Vincent silently move out of the tunnel and reached a natural balcony over a round open area. There were about 10 DG soldiers, snipers all of them, aiming to the area below them.

"Just go for her… Once Odin is free again, he will take care of the rest." One of them said, the one who seemed to be in charge.

Vincent looked down, remembered Yuffie's words and realized the plan of the soldiers.

* * *

Odin was an easy target being held, so Cloud and the others defeated him faster than they thought they would. Just in the moment when the summon was fading they heard some gunshots, and some dead DG soldiers fell from the upper area.

A red light surrounded Phoenix, and Lilah returned to her normal appearance. Her breathing was heavy, and suddenly fell on her knees.

"Are you Ok, girl?" Barret said as he approached to her.

"…Yes… I'm just tired." Lilah answered, and with his help she got on her feet again.

"I guess that when you want a job well done, you have to do it yourself." Someone said from the back part of the place. This time Ives had decided to show up. He quickly cast a spell. Everyone was waiting for another summon to appear, but nothing happened.

* * *

Lilah let go of Barret, although she was feeling strange and dizzy. She was weak and vulnerable; Ives knew this very well, and was using it against her. She felt her head like spinning around, and suddenly found herself surrounded by DG soldiers. She looked around for her friends, but they were nowhere to be found: she was all alone against those soldiers. All she could do was fight.

* * *

Reno was waiting for something to happen, just like the others, when suddenly Lilah attacked him. His reflexes were good, so he could block her attack with his rod.

"What's going on with you?" He asked, but she attacked him once more.

"She's being manipulated!" Tifa said. Cloud got close to Lilah to try to stop her. But, although she was tired and weak, she still was strong and fast, and this time she attacked him as well. Just as Reno did, Cloud blocked her attacks with his sword.

"We're not going to hurt you, Lilah." Cloud said, but she wouldn't listen.

"Why don't you come and fight like a man, you coward!" Yuffie shouted at Ives. He only answered with a laugh. She threw a shuriken at him, but it was deflected by some kind of force field around him.

They were all having a hard time trying to protect themselves from Lilah, and not hurting her. It seemed that the only way was going to be to knock her out.

* * *

Lilah was so tired that her blades seemed heavy to her. The DG soldiers were surrounding her, and she was not able to fight anymore. But she was not going to give up. She tried to call Phoenix for aid, but she was not coming. Lilah was walking backwards when she felt something heavy land behind her. Before she could turn around, two strong arms surrounded her, and immobilized her. Her blades fell to the floor, and she realized it was a DG soldier who was holding her down.

"Let me go! You, Deepground scum!" She shouted, while kicking and forcing against the soldier.

"It's ok, Lilah… It's me." His voice seemed to go through Ives spell, and she suddenly realized there were her friends who were around her, and that one of the arms that were holding her had a golden gauntlet. "It's ok…"

"Vincent…" She whispered, and stopped fighting. She felt her whole body growing weak, and she lost consciousness.

Vincent gently left Lilah in the floor and joined the rest of the team against Ives. In that moment, the new squad arrived, but they were not helping very much, because, somehow, all of their attacks were not enough to break through Ives barrier.

"This is ridiculous!" Ives said. "I'll have another one of my strong companions to finish you all off." Then, he started to concentrate once again.

Unexpectedly, a red flash of light filled the whole place and blinded all of them for a couple of seconds. The next thing they saw was that Lilah had broken through Ives's barrier, and had stabbed him with both of her blades. The barrier disappeared, and everyone could see Ives was dead. Lilah remained motionless in front of his body.

"It's finally over". Nanaki said and ran towards Lilah, along with Yuffie.

"Oh God, no!" Yuffie shouted when she realized Ives was holding a dagger in his hand.

* * *

Lilah felt something icy filling her. She tried to stand steady, but she was growing weaker and weaker. She looked at her shirt and realized it was stained with blood. Then, she let go of her swords, which were still through Ives's body, and fell to the floor. The roof was spinning over her. She saw her friends' were now by her side, but her view started to get blurry, and she was not able to hear anymore. The last thing she saw was a vague red shape in front of her, and felt like she was being lifted from the floor. 


	19. Giving It All

**A/N: **This is going to be the last chapter. I know is very much longer than the others, but hey! the previous ones were extremely short!

Anyway, I want to thank to all the people who read and reviewed, or just read (cookies, hugges, and kisses for all of them!). I also want to thank once again to Live4Dance88 for taking some time to check on my chapters.

Now, enjoy!... And it's not too late to leave some reviews!

* * *

**Giving It All –Last Chapter**

Vincent couldn't stand still. He had already walked up and down that corridor a thousand times. Lilah had been injured that very afternoon, they took her to headquarters, but he hadn't been told anything about her state yet, even though it was almost midnight. Vincent sighed, and leaned against the wall. Just in that moment, Tifa entered the place.

"We just finished clearing the area; there were still some DG soldiers left." Tifa noticed Vincent was not paying attention. "Why don't you go home, Vincent?" She said. "You know this may take hours… She's in good hands."

"I can't."

"You look tired, I really think you should get some sleep. I can call you if something happens…"

"Tifa… I'm staying here." He interrupted her. She looked at him and sighed.

"Ok… Do you need anything? I can bring you some coffee if you want to."

"I'm fine."

Suddenly, the door opened again. This time it was Reeve, and another man with a white coat.

"Vincent… This is Dr. Gavin. He'll explain Lilah's current situation to you." Reeve said, and then he asked Tifa to leave Vincent and the doctor alone.

"Mr. Valentine, right?" The doctor asked. Vincent nodded. "The patient was in a critical state when she was brought here. The wound was not very deep, but the problem was the poison."

"What poison?"

"The Commissioner told me she was attacked with a dagger. That is probably where the poison came from. Anyway, we were able to neutralize it."

"What do you mean? She's alright now, doesn't she?"

"She is still unconscious. We just put her in a recovery capsule. As soon she wakes up she'll be out of danger." Vincent nodded. "You may come in if you want to." Dr. Gavin said, opening the door to the room where Lilah was.

"…Sure." Vincent followed him inside. Lilah was inside the capsule, just as the doctor had told him. He came closer to her: she was still wearing her blood stained clothes over her bandages, and seemed to be just sleeping. Vincent suddenly felt angry for being unable to do something for her.

"May I… stay here?" he asked the doctor.

"I'm sorry, you can't." The doctor answered. "You may stay here just for a while."

Vincent looked at her again, and left the room. There wasn't anything he could do, so he sat on the floor next to the door, and waited.

* * *

It was almost past noon. Tifa arranged some sandwiches and a bottle of juice in a bag, and the left for headquarters. She was right, Vincent was in the very place she had last seen him, sitting next to the room where Lilah was resting.

"I knew you'd be here." She told him. Vincent jumped from his seat. It seemed that he had fallen asleep.

"Tifa…"

"Sorry if I scared you… This is for you." She handed him the bag. He looked inside, and looked back at Tifa.

"Thank you."

"How is she?" She said, and sat next to him.

"She is still unconscious. They let me in a couple of times during the night." Vincent started to eat a sandwich.

"Poor Lilah… She'll be alright, I know."

In that moment a young nurse, came out from the room.

"You may come in if you want to, Mr. Valentine."

Vincent immediately sat up and entered the room.

"You may come in too. But just for a couple of minutes." The nurse said to Tifa.

"Really?"

The nurse nodded, and Tifa entered the room too.

Vincent was standing next to the capsule, looking directly to Lilah, as if he was waiting for her to wake up at any minute.

"Please, Lilah… wake up." Tifa said sitting in a chair next to Lilah.

"This is entirely my fault." Vincent said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Tifa asked, surprised.

"It is! I was there! And I couldn't protect her!"

"Vincent, lower your voice, please!"

"I should disappear from her life, from everyone's life. Everything I ever… cared about ends up like this. I should have known, I don't deserve of a normal life."

"You do, both of you do. You can't start grieving again for something that was not your fault. People make choices, Vincent. And you can't blame yourself for their mistakes. I thought you were done with that crap!"

Vincent looked at Lilah once more, and walked out of the place.

"Vincent! Vincent, where are you going?" Tifa was going to follow him, when she heard a weak voice from the capsule next to her.

"Tifa…?"

"Lilah! Thank God you woke up!"

"What's going on? ... Let me out of here." Lilah seemed very uncomfortable of being inside the capsule.

"Take it easy, ok? I'll call the doctor right away!" Tifa left the room and came back a couple of minutes after with Dr. Gavin. He immediately released Lilah from the capsule, and examined her.

"This is completely unnecessary, I heal quite quickly." Lilah said, and checked on the bandage around her waist.

"Don't take this so lightly. You were about to die." Tifa said, picked up her cell phone, and dialed Vincent's number.

"What happened with Ives? And where are the others?"

"You don't remember, right? Lilah, you killed Ives."

"… I don't remember, but I'm glad that the bastard is finally dead. What about the others?"

"They are all fine. But you really scare us; we thought you were a goner." In that moment, Vincent answered his phone. "What do you think you're doing? Lilah's just woken up."

"… I'm glad she did." He answered.

"Come back here right now!"

"I can't do that, I'm sorry." He said and hung up.

"I can't believe it!"

"What's going on? Who were you talking to?" Lilah asked Tifa.

"It doesn't matter…" Tifa put her cell phone in her pocket again. Lilah just knew Tifa had been talking to Vincent, but didn't tell her.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Gavin asked Lilah, while examining her eyes with a small lamp.

"My head hurts." Lilah answered.

"I still need to run some tests, but you seem to be fine." He said.

"I know I'm fine… can I leave now?" Lilah said.

"Of course not." The doctor said, and turned off the lamp, and checked on Lilah's bandages. To his surprise, the wound was completely healed.

"I told you I heal quickly."

"It depends on the results of the test if you can leave tomorrow. But you still need a lot of rest."

"Well, I'm going to tell the others you're better, see you later, Lilah." Tifa said and left.

The results for Lilah's medical test were ready that very evening and they proved she was fine. Anyway, the doctor asked her to stay the night in the WRO facilities once again, just to make sure the headaches were gone.

* * *

The next morning, Reeve sent the Shadowfox to take Lilah to the Seventh Heaven. When she got there Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie were coming out of the place. 

"Hey! We were going to pick you up." Yuffie said.

"I suppose you prefer to stay with us than staying in an inn, right?" Tifa asked Lilah. She just answered with a light smile.

"We'll take good care of you." Yuffie said, quite enthusiastically.

"That won't be necessary." Lilah said when they were getting inside the bar.

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked.

"I'll be leaving Edge today."

"You can't do that… You are supposed to rest now." Cloud said.

"I already made my mind. I have nothing to do here anymore. There's nothing for me here."

"What about us? We are your friends! What about Vincent?" Yuffie said, getting in her way.

"Vincent? He's not here, is he?!" Lilah said, and eyes filled with tears.

"Vincent spent a whole night by your side when you were unconscious! It's not fair to him you leaving like that!" Yuffie said, quite angry.

"I'm glad I met all of you, guys. But I need to go… there are a lot of things that I need to find out, things about me." She wiped her tears away, and immediately composed herself. "Can I use your bathroom? I really need to take a shower." She said to Tifa.

"… Sure. By the way, your things are still in my room. You can get change there." Tifa said, getting a hold of Yuffie's arm, she was determined to argue with Lilah about her leaving.

Lilah entered the house, and the rest remained in the bar.

"What? She can do whatever she wants; she's far from being a kid." Tifa said to Yuffie, after she gave her a cold glare. "I only hope she doesn't regret it in the future."

* * *

Once she had taken a shower, and changed into clean clothes, Lilah, after a lot of thinking decided to call Vincent, just to say goodbye. She was not sure if what Yuffie had told her was true or not, but she still wanted to talk to him once more. 

The phone rang several times before he finally answered, but remained in silence.

"…I… I just wanted to say thanks… for everything." She said, and didn't notice she was shaking.

"Don't worry… I'm glad you are fine now."

"…"

"…"

"That's all I wanted to say… I'm leaving now."

"Leaving?" Vincent suddenly realized she was trying to say goodbye.

"I'm a total freak… I understand if you don't want to be around." She hung up the phone, and turned it off. She didn't want to give anymore explanations. Lilah knew he had already found out about her having Phoenix living inside because he had been there when she transformed, back in Ives's headquarters. Lilah couldn't be more wrong.

Vincent looked at the screen of his phone, like looking for an explanation for what he had just heard. He had been thinking about what Tifa had told him the day before. Although he felt quite responsible for what had happened to Lilah, he still knew that it wasn't his fault. After all, if she hadn't done what she did, they all would have been killed that day. And there was no way he would think she was a freak for having a creature inside!

He stood up from his bed, got dressed and got out from the apartment. He was not going to stop her if she wanted to leave, but needed to make things clear before she was gone.

The first place he thought she could be by then was the bus station. To his surprise, she was standing right by the main door of the station. She was talking with a chocobo trader. When he approached she gently was patting the creature in the head.

"Do you like them?" He asked. Lilah turned around and couldn't believe that he was really there.

"What are you doing here?"

"You are not supposed to answer a question with another question."

She smiled at him.

"Yeah, I like them. They are so cute." Lilah picked some greens from the floor and feed the chocobo.

"Are you travelling by chocobo?"

"No… I've never ridden one. I don't know if I could." Vincent remembered the picture he had seen of her riding, very confidently, a chocobo more that twenty years ago.

"Where are you going?"

"Junon… I already bought a ticket. The bus is leaving in fifteen minutes. Now, tell me what are you doing here?" She walked inside the station and sat in a bench. Vincent followed her, and sat by her side.

"I came to say goodbye." That was not exactly the answer she thought he was going to give.

"Oh!"

"And… To tell you a story."

"A story? What's wrong with you? You're not the kind of person who makes stories up."

"Actually, I didn't make this story up… This really happened." He said, and rested his forearms over his knees.

"Well, tell me this story." She smiled again, leaned back and cross her arms over her chest.

"I think you are familiarized with the name Lucrecia Crescent."

"Are you making fun of me?" Her smile quickly disappeared from her face.

"Let me finish… please. This is not easy." He looked at her, and she realized he was being serious, well, more serious than he normally was. "Lucrecia was working in the Jenova Project when Shinra sent a member of the Department of Administrative Research to supervise her and the other scientist work.

"A Turk?"

"Yes… This man fell in love with her, and… Hojo shot him for opposing to the experimentation on humans, especially on Lucrecia's unborn baby… Hojo's son… Sephiroth."

Lilah began to realize about the coincidences of this story with what Vincent had told her the night they slept together in the couch. She also remembered that he used to be a turk too.

"Vincent… this happened…"

"…More than thirty years ago, I know." Vincent took a deep breath before continuing. "Then… Hojo experimented on his body, and Lucrecia… she… did too." He had his gaze fixed on the floor.

"Chaos." Lilah said. Vincent looked at her, quite surprised. "That's where Chaos came from, right? From Dr. Crescent experimentation."

"Yes… kind of." He answered. Everybody, even Lilah was aware that Chaos had saved the world from Omega, and the Tsviets. Everything made sense then. She didn't know what to say to him, so just laid her head over his shoulder. "So, please don't say that I think you are a freak ever again… You looked beautiful when you transformed into Phoenix."

"That's… the sweetest compliment I've ever been told." She said, and held his left hand, which had his gauntlet on. He looked at her, examining every feature of her face. In that very moment, the departure of the bus heading to Junon in five minutes was announced. She got up, and picked up her bag and swords, that were in the floor. "Well, I should be going now… You deserve to be happy, Vincent. Give it a try." She turned around and started to walk towards the platform, but he held her by her wrist, pulled her towards him, and kissed her lips. She kissed him back, and then pulled away.

"_Vincent… please, say the words… if you say the words I stay."_ She thought.

"Is this what you really want?" He asked her.

"Please… don't make things harder for me than they already are." She said, trying vainly to hold her tears back. Then, she ran towards the bus.

* * *

Vincent arrived at the Seventh Heaven still not knowing if he had done things right. Cloud had just arrived too, and had left his motorcycle outside. Yuffie was there too, she was sitting in the stairs in the entrance of the bar. 

"Vincent!" She said as soon as she saw him. "Lilah's gone!"

"I know." He said.

"What?"

"I was with her… She just left for Junon."

"And you just let her go?"

"What else could I do… It was her decision."

"But… But you are supposed to stop her! You love her, right?" Yuffie seemed to be upset about the situation.

"Of course I love her! She knows that…" Vincent suddenly stopped talking. No… He had actually never told her that he loved her.

"What?!"

Vincent looked around.

"Cloud's bike." He muttered. The keys were there.

"What are you talking about?!"

Even thought he had never ridden a motorcycle before, he got on the bike, turned it on and made haste to the town's exit.

Yuffie was left all confused outside the bar.

"Yuffie… where's my bike?" Cloud asked her as he came out from the bar.

"You wouldn't believe me, Cloud."

* * *

The bus was heading to Junon, he knew that. It had departed about twenty minutes ago, so it couldn't be that far. Vincent was so concentrated in catching up the bus that just passed most of the vehicles that got in his way. Once he was outside the town, he decided to take a shortcut through the wastelands, in that way, he would get closer to the bus in no time. And he did. As soon as he saw the bus, he went straight, passed next to it, and stopped right in front of it. The bus came to a sudden stop. Vincent got off the motorcycle, and walked directly to it. 

"What the hell is going on?" Asked the driver when the door was opened. He immediately low his voice when he noticed Vincent was carrying a gun.

"I'm looking for someone who got on this bus at the station in Edge." Vincent said.

"A lot of people got on the bus in Edge!"

"It's a woman… dark hair, blue eyes…"

"The girl with the swords?"

"Exactly! She's carrying two swords, scimitars."

"She got off."

"What?" Vincent couldn't believe it.

"She was acting kinda strange… the poor girl seemed to be in tears. She got off in the bus stop outside Edge, near the beach."

Vincent looked inside the bus, just to make sure she was not there, got off, moved the motorcycle from the road, and made his way back to Edge. He slowed down the speed when he was passing next to the bus stop, just outside Edge. Vincent parked the bike to one side of the road, and got off.

There she was, sitting in the beach, watching the sea, her arms around her knees. Vincent walked closer to her, and stopped right by her side.

"Are you following me?" She asked when she noticed his presence.

"I was thinking about what you told me at the station… that I deserve to be happy." He crouched next to her. "I think you're right… but I won't be happy unless you are with me. I love you, Lilah."

She smiled at him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He lost balance when she did, and fell backwards, pulling her over him.

"Sorry…" She said, laughing. To her surprise, he was smiling too. "This really makes my day… seeing you smiling like that."

"Let's keep it secret, ok?" He said, and kissed her once again.

Then, he got on his feet, and she did as well.

"Come on, let's go. There could be fiends around." He said, removing some sand from his clothes.

"What if they are? I can defend myself." She said, as they walked back to the road.

"I know you can." He said and pulled her by his side, wrapping her with his cloak."

"Please, Vincent, tell me that Cloud lent you his bike…"

"He didn't."

Both of them got on the bike. Lilah sat behind him, and pressed her face against his back and hair. She held onto his waist strongly, longing to get to the place they could finally call their home.

The End.


End file.
